Evergreen Ties, June 2021 by St Cuthbert's College

June — 2021

Evergreen FEATURE

Introducing our amazing 2021 Student Leadership Team

Ties

—

PLUS

St Cuthbert’s Careers: Ensuring every door is open for our girls — ALSO

Our new Dance Studio: The importance of a ‘balanced’ life —

RESIDENTIAL WATER TANKS MADE EASY Ensure your lawn and garden remain lush and green with a Bailey rain water harvesting solution. For more information visit www.tanks.co.nz

09 262 7070 www.tanks.co.nz

stcuthberts.school.nz

Thank You to all our 2020 donors The Robertson Circle recognises parents, Old Girls, staff and friends who have given combined gifts of over $2,000 to the school since 2002. Your generosity has provided outstanding educational experiences for our girls and we are humbled by your ongoing commitment to the school. We would like to thank our new and existing Robertson Circle members who have supported us since January 2020. FRIEND

SUPPORTER

The Bailey Family J and W Barron Hamish Haldane and Georgina Caughey Anne Hargreaves Ann Louise Jordan Mark and May Kearney Connie Li Giri Mahadevan Justine Mahon and Greg Heap Allan McFall and Karen Anderson Cindy Merz Dong Ming Qin Eric Rao and Amanda Li E Santhara and C D’Cruz A Shiu and J Shuai Robin Stoney and Philip Bullen Alistair and Charlotte Sutherland Cyndy Thomas Paul and Saraid Thompson Roz and Peter Vickers The Vincent Family Sandra Warren, Bec McLeod Andrew and Sharon Wong Year 13, 2020 Leon Yuan and Erin Huang Selina Zhang and Xiaokun Liu Anonymous x3

M and J Ballantyne R E Harris and A E Harris Charlotte Hellaby Leigh Melville Mike and Margaret Tomlinson The Waller Family Sondra Wigglesworth 2 Anonymous

FELLOW Dean and Chanelle Farmer Zhaorong Mai and Tracy Zhang

GUARDIAN Clayton Charitable Trust K E Falconer Sports Fund The Hawkesby Family Anna Mowbray Old Girls’ Association Parents and Friends Akram and Humaira Qureshi Drs Ellis Situe and Nina Vasan Marie Taylor Not all donors are listed as some have chosen to remain anonymous. For a full list of Robertson Circle members please visit our website stcuthberts.school.nz

241 Parnell Rd - www.orsini.co.nz

Evergreen Ties —

In this edition we celebrate many new exciting additions to our school including the Pōhutukawa Learning Centre, Club Evergreen After School Care Programme and our Parents & Friends Dance Studio. Evergreen Ties is published two times a year by the St Cuthbert’s Communications Office.

Meet our Leaders

COMMUNICATIONS TEAM communications@stcuthberts.school.nz ADVERTISING Judy.Watt@stcuthberts.school.nz

P06 — From the Desk of Justine Mahon

OLD GIRLS’ ASSOCIATION Georgina Robertson PresidentOGA@stcuthberts.school.nz PARENTS & FRIENDS parents.friends@stcuthberts.school.nz PHOTOS BWMedia photography St Cuthbert’s Communications Office NEXT ISSUE November 2021

Making Girls Amazing

P40 — Kahunui Year 13 Leadership experience

StCuthbertsCollege

P48 — Connecting through Culture

Featured Stories P08 — Parents & Friends Dance Studio

P12 — Club Evergreen

Contents 06 — From the Desk of Justine Mahon 08 — Parents & Friends Dance Studio 10 — P hutukawa Learning Centre 14 — 2021 Student Leadership Team 20 — Class of 2020 Academic Results 21 — Parent Class Coordinators 22 — Connecting our Community 24 — A new model for teacher training 28 — Science Education

P14 — 2021 Student Leadership Team

P24 — A new model for teacher training

30 — Carbon Zero 34 — Social Sciences 36 — Welcome to our newest girls 38 — Celebrating House Flowers 40 — Kahunui Year 13 Leadership experience 44 — A Boarders’ Reunion 46 — Bringing Joy Through Song 48 — Connecting through Culture 50 — Achieving Life Balance Through Dance

P66 — Old Girls’ Association

52 — Shakespeare Soirée 56 — Sport at St Cuthbert’s 64 — Old Girls’ Association

From the Desk of Justine Mahon Welcome to the June 2021 edition of our school magazine, Evergreen Ties. At St Cuthbert’s, excellence is about every girl achieving her personal best and we really encourage our students to give new things a go.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

At my first assembly this year, I shared with the girls that I see 2021 as the year of courage; a time to try new things, join a cultural group, sports team, get involved in a service project or just dare to do something completely different from anything they have tried before. In this edition, we meet both current students and Old Girls of the College who are focused on becoming the very best version of themselves. Whether it be following opportunities to express their creative side such as the Shakespeare Soirée, or finding a way to connect with their culture through events such as Po Fiafia, our girls share their experiences in this edition of ‘giving it a go’, while our Old Girls, including professional Dancer Ling Zhang (peer year 2014), express how St Cuthbert’s taught them to be open to every opportunity.

residential stay. This amazing trip provides students with the chance to revisit Kahunui and take part in an outdoors-based programme, with leadership opportunities embedded in the day-to-day curriculum. The first intake of Year 13 girls who travelled down in February, were also privileged to take part in the official opening of our new house at Kahunui, “Farmer House”; this special event was attended by local iwi, the Kahunui team and the Development team. I would like to thank our wonderful benefactors, the Farmer family, for their generosity over many years in supporting the College and for donating the new residence.

The beginning of this year has been a busy and very rewarding one, with new initiatives at the College. Thanks to our community’s generosity, we were able to open the new Parents & Friends Dance Studio. We celebrated this addition to our exceptional Performing Arts facilities with a special event for our donors.

In this edition of Evergreen Ties, it is our absolute pleasure to introduce you to our amazing student Leadership team for 2021; Head Girl, Carmel Ah Chong, Deputy Head Girls, Katya De Silva, Florida Mataio and Helena Haldane, and Head Boarder, Charlotte Berry. I have already been so impressed by their leadership this year, particularly the way in which they have been looking out for our younger students as we went in and out of two lockdowns. They are wonderful role models for our students.

We launched our exciting new After School Care programme ‘Club Evergreen’ earlier this year. Club Evergreen offers a convenient, safe, and caring after school programme for our Years 0–8 students at a fantastic new location in our Junior School; you can learn more about this on page 12.

I’d like to make special mention of the girls who have contributed articles to this edition, in the true spirit of‘By Love Serve’. Your stories are beautiful, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about these experiences through your eyes, and I am sure our readers will too!

We have recently rebranded our Personalised Learning Centre to become ‘The Pōhutukawa Learning Centre’. This better reflects the way in which our leading programme supports the girls to really flourish and discover their own personal strengths and talents. The Pōhutukawa Learning Centre provides support for students who, for different reasons, need some targeted assistance to enable them to reach their full potential. We are enormously grateful for the wonderful generosity of St Cuthbert’s parent, Anna Mowbray, who has made a significant donation to the PLC to support the continual development of world class programmes for our diverse learners. I would personally like to acknowledge Anna’s contribution; every donation we receive at St Cuthbert’s really does make a difference to our girls, and we are very appreciative of her support.

Staying connected as a community continues to be vitally important to us. My heartfelt thanks go out to our Parents & Friends, Old Girls’ Association, and Asian Friendship Group for continuing to find ways to connect with one another, whether this be in person, or remotely. Your care and dedication to our girls, the College, and to one another, is a wonderful part of St Cuthbert’s and makes me feel so very proud of our vibrant and connected community. I hope you enjoy reading our May edition. Ngā manaakitanga, Ms Justine Mahon — Principal

In February, the first group of Year 13 girls were thrilled to participate in our new leadership training programme when they had the opportunity to experience a specialised five-day, four-night Kahunui

Introducing our new Parents & Friends Dance Studio We were so excited to open our new Parents & Friends Dance Studio in Term 1 thanks to our generous community’s donations. We celebrated this amazing addition to our exceptional Performing Arts facilities with a very special event for our donors.

Head of Dance Laura-Beth Warne and Parents & Friends Chairperson Elisabeth Bell cut the red ribbon proclaiming the Studio open after a moving blessing and prayer from Reverend François Joubert. Earlier in the evening, guests were treated to an outstanding performance of Rosas Danst Rosas by ‘The Company’, as well as delicious dance-themed finger food by Kelda Skelton and her team – ‘banana split’ tarts, prawn ’twisters’ and ‘rock and roll’ sausage rolls. Head of Performing Arts Judy McIntosh, who spoke on behalf of Principal Justine Mahon, shared her reflections on the journey of Dance at the school and how the subject has grown hugely over the years. The St Cuthbert’s Dance programme is offered as an option from Years 9 to 13, and all Year 7 and 8 students also experience Dance as part of their curriculum. The new studio with its sprung floor is already making a big difference to the students who are enjoying a purpose-built space for their Dance studies. Thank you again to our donors for your very generous support of this space.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

“ There are no mistakes, only solos” Laura-Beth Warne, Head of Dance at St Cuthbert’s, is our secret weapon as to why Dance has become so popular. Laura-Beth Warne is one of those lifechanging teachers whom a student will always remember. The impact she makes on so many of our girls is incredible, not just as dancers, but as young women. “ ‘Ms Warne you taught me to be myself’, a past student once said to me, which hit home as this is the most important thing students can learn.” “Most of the girls don’t need me to teach them how to dance, they already come to me knowing how to, but I hope I am teaching them how to use that part of their brain that creates and analyses so they can be creative analysers in all aspects of their lives. These are the most rewarding moments.” Laura-Beth has been at St Cuthbert’s since 2010, starting off as a Drama teacher before

introducing Dance as part of the curriculum in 2014, drawing from her background as a successful dancer and gymnast. A key part of Laura-Beth’s success at St Cuthbert’s has been teaching the girls how to celebrate their mistakes along the way, as this is when our students learn and grow. “I say to the girls ‘There are no mistakes only solos.’ It’s about getting girls to experiment; teenagers feel the need to be ‘right’ and it’s a real pressure on them. So, to empower them to make decisions and know that failing is part of the fun because it teaches us something, that’s the challenge.” Laura-Beth says Dance forms strong bonds among the girls. “The bonds that they form in the classroom are quite unusual for a school environment as you are asking them to bare their

souls in what they are doing, they can’t create a project at home and submit it. In what they are doing with their bodies out there for everyone to see in real time, you are asking them to create performances that are quite personal, and they can’t get to that place if they don’t feel safe.” A huge focus of Dance is to instil in girls the confidence to give things a go in a safe environment. Laura Beth says, “I talk to the girls about trusting the process. It’s not just about the finished dance, but the journey we went on together to get there, and what they have learnt through this.” Laura-Beth is thrilled with the new Dance Studio saying “The new Dance Studio helps our girls feel that their subject is valued. We now have two dedicated Dance Studios, which means we can offer more girls the chance to dance, and our facilities now match our amazing teachers and the professional choreographers who come in.” Laura-Beth is incredibly excited about the growth in girls taking Dance and is proud of the impact she has made. “It’s just been so terrific to see Dance grow over the years. This is the first year we have had separate Year 11, 12 and 13 classes and it’s so amazing. I feel like I have achieved something, we have dance here because I made it happen, and it’s a gift to have been given the chance to do that.”

Introducing our re-launched Pōhutukawa Learning Centre We are very excited to have recently re-launched our best kept secret, the Pōhutukawa Learning Centre. We feel the new name better reflects the way in which our specialised enrichment programmes help our girls ‘blossom’.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Cherie Sowter, Sue Downes, Julie Mahoney, Judi Paape, Felecia Tomich, Rochelle Lawrence, Barbara Stewart Brown, Beth Rush, Susan Jackson. Not pictured: Linda Ward.

The overarching goal of the PLC is to cater for the needs of diverse learners at St Cuthbert’s. Diversity encompasses many characteristics including giftedness; our Learning Enrichment programme and learning differences; our Specialised Learning Interventions programme. The Learning Enrichment Programme includes the Gifted and Talented Programme (GATE) for children who already perform or have the ability to perform at a level significantly beyond their chronically aged peers. Giftedness can apply to either one or a variety of learning areas. While some students find themselves falling behind the expected achievement levels of their peers, our Specialised Learning Intervention Programme focusses on helping these students recognise their learning differences so that they become more effective learners. This can include English as a second language learners (ESOL). The PLC uses enriched learning techniques to help students recognise their learning differences to become more effective learners. This is underpinned by a belief that every student should be given the opportunity to develop their understanding of themselves as a learner so they can watch their improvement. Students spend most of their time within mainstream classes to ensure they always feel socially connected to their peers, whilst also having this one-on-one support to raise their confidence. Senior Mentor, Judi Paape, who has been instrumental in the relaunch of the PLC says “It’s about building the girls self-esteem and at the same time making them responsible

for goal setting; it’s a two-way process. As Socrates said, ‘Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.’ ” Thanks to the generous donation of one of our parents, Anna Mowbray, we have extended our team, including two new staff members trained in educational psychology and one undertaking a PhD in curriculum design. We are very lucky to have Felecia Tomich as our Head of the PLC for Years 0–9, and Linda Ward for Years 9–13. Our two Heads cross over in Year 9 to ensure a seamless centre for the girls as they move into their more senior years at school.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Identifying your child’s learning superpower

assume would come from this little seven-yearold girl.” It’s because of the confidence with which Maile has been instilled at the Pōhutukawa Learning Centre and in the wider classroom, and of course at home, that is helping her embrace her way of learning. Anna says, “The biggest thing for me is that children have so much to give, if they feel confident. So, it’s important to become a confidence catalyst for the kids by empowering them in their alternate way of thinking. My passion lies in figuring out how the individual learns, playing into those strengths and allowing them to be their best selves by nurturing their confidence.” Anna says it is incredibly important to make learning support a positive experience, and to celebrate diversity, as that’s when society succeeds.

Anna Mowbray, Parent at St Cuthbert’s Co-Founder and Director of ZURU, Anna Mowbray, has a daughter at St Cuthbert’s in Year 2 who has been flourishing from the support of the Pōhutukawa Learning Centre. We spoke to Anna about enabling girls to find their learning superpower and the importance of celebrating the unique ways children learn. Do you know your child’s learning ‘superpower’? For Anna Mowbray, discovering this is key to having a confident and happy child. “So many in my family are dyslexic and that’s why alternate learning needs are so close to me; these learning difficulties can actually be your superpower if you allow them to be as they speak to a different way of processing; you’ve got to be able to unlock this knowledge and acceptance and then you’ll build confidence in your learning, I truly believe the key to learning is being happy and confident.” After 15 years in Asia, Anna returned from Hong Kong in February 2020 to celebrate Chinese New Year. During her time in Auckland the global situation with COVID-19 worsened and Anna knew it wasn’t the time to be travelling so decided to stay. As a parent of five, with two children who have diverse learning needs, finding a school that not only understood these needs, but celebrated them, was key.

“I was very intent in putting Maile into the right place; she is an amazingly beautiful child and has additional learning needs with which she needed support. I felt that there was something special at St Cuthbert’s, that warmth, that holistic feel, that entrenched culture and values subset that’s come through generations, and I wanted her to have that platform to support her in achieving greatness.” Anna believes so deeply in the benefit enriched learning support can bring children, she was keen to make sure this could be offered to as many St Cuthbert’s girls as possible, giving a gift to the school to sustain a new senior specialist Learning Support Teacher. Anna says children with learning difficulties have so much to give and have an incredibly unique and inspiring way of looking at life. “My daughter’s pearls of wisdom and how she looks at life is just so enriching. She’s got this completely alternate way of looking at the world, and she’ll come up with the most magnificent statements that you would never

“There is no standardised way of learning or a standard individual; we are all so unique. For me, having children that have learning difficulties but seeing their greatness, and knowing that if that can be unlocked then the gift of their greatness can be shared onto others, I know that’s when they can enrich others’ lives.” Anna sees the Pōhutukawa Learning Centre positively impacting the lives of every girl at St Cuthbert’s. “The happiness of every child ultimately has a ripple on effect to those around them, and if you are feeling stressed, if you are feeling undervalued, if you feel you are not unlocking your potential because of a barrier you have in how you learn, you ultimately are not being your best self and that affects others around you. So, it’s about helping every girl understand that unlocking your best self and celebrating people’s uniqueness, is actually the biggest form of kindness you can give to anybody.” Anna’s advice to parents is to celebrate every win on their child’s learning journey. “Celebrate the unique differences in your individual child, and, more than anything, celebrate their hard work and those incremental gains that they get on every single one of those challenges. Don’t look at their learning difficulty as a weakness but rather figure out how to unravel and understand where their strengths lie because every single individual in this world has so much to give.” For Anna, the support she is providing St Cuthbert’s is just a first step and she is looking at a way of replicating this into more learning environments to help children across the country. Before you know it, our skies will be filled with many super girls!

Our refreshed after school care programme Have you considered St Cuthbert’s after school care programme, Club Evergreen, for 2021? It might just make your afternoons a whole lot easier. Club Evergreen is a bespoke St Cuthbert’s run after school care programme designed to support our Years 0–8 parents to juggle their busy lives, while providing their daughters with a fun-filled few hours after school. We are thrilled to announce a fantastic new location in the Junior School precinct in a well-equipped classroom near the Junior playground. This enables an easy pick-up for parents from the Junior School Carpark and means that the girls can enjoy the playground after school. The programme continues to be managed by our long-term after school care Manager Sandy Thomas, whom many of your daughters know well, and has been reshaped to include a fresh array of activities and collaborators. This term, our attendees are enjoying activities

such as cake decorating with our wonderful onsite Chef and sweet treat expert, Kelda, who used to create amazing high teas as Head Pastry Chef at the Langham Hotel, and much more. The programme has been extended with new activities including gardening and more throughout 2021. When girls attend, they enjoy a healthy afternoon tea, engage in new skills and complete homework in a supportive and relaxed environment. It is also a great chance to spend time with girls from other year levels. Club Evergreen offers a convenient, affordable, and caring programme during term-time from 3.00pm–5.30pm, Monday to Thursday. Girls are welcome to attend on a permanent, parttime, or casual basis.

Some parents choose Club Evergreen while they take a sibling to an extra-curricular activity, or while waiting for later swimming lessons in the St Cuthbert’s pool. Some girls come before or after Sport, Music, or Drama practice, while waiting for late buses, or on parent interview days. Others find it a convenient option for a late pick-up after work. Special thanks to our 2020 Year 8 Communications and Community Relations Team for their wonderful insight and assistance in helping name our new after school care programme ‘Club Evergreen’. If you are interested in finding out more about Club Evergreen, please email clubevergreen@stcuthberts.school.nz

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

We asked some of our girls why they love Club Evergreen, take it away girls…

“My favourite things are playing games and colouring in with Sandy” - Livvy (Year 3)

“Sandy is very kind, and the food is delicious!” - Pippa (Year 5)

nice, y r e v is y d n a S “ and we play lots of things. We meet new people and I like the food crafts.” - Frieda (Year 6)

“Yo u ge t to do fun stu ff like pla yin g wit h do lls an d se ein g fri en ds .” - Eadie (Year 4) 13

“ Through uniting we find our true value and therefore our full potential” Our amazing 2021 Student Leadership team; Head Girl, Carmel Ah Chong, Deputy Head Girls; Helena Haldane, Katya De Silva, Florida Mataio and Head Boarder, Charlotte Berry, share with us their favourite experiences at St Cuthbert’s, what ‘By Love Serve’ means to them and what kind of Leadership team they aspire to be. 14

Q: Can you share with us how long you’ve been at St Cuthbert’s? Carmel: I was fortunate enough to come to St Cuthbert’s in Year 7 on an Endeavour Scholarship. As for most people starting at a new school, it was quite daunting. That being said, the wonderful opportunities of attending Year 7 Camp, joining Kapa Haka, and being part of a team in a number of sports, made my transition into St Cuthbert’s substantially easier and 100% more enjoyable. When I first arrived at St Cuthbert’s, I don’t think I truly understood how special it was to attend such an amazing school. However, over my years at St Cuthbert’s, I’ve seen how staff go above and beyond to help us students reach our full potential, how girls not

only strive for success of their own but support the success of others and, ultimately, how St Cuthbert’s develops girls into young women who are confident, intelligent and ready to face the real world, taking our motto of ‘By Love Serve’ with them. Helena: My time at St Cuthbert’s began when I was five-years-old in New Entrants and continued until halfway through Year 4 when I left and moved with my family to Singapore, living there for three years before moving on to Amsterdam, where I lived for another threeand-a half years. It was halfway through Year 10, that I came back to St Cuthbert’s (a familiar yet unfamiliar face), and after having taken a six-and-a-half-year hiatus, I could not be happier to finish my school days here.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Katya: I came to St Cuthbert’s in Year 7. It was a huge jump for me – coming from a small, co-ed primary school and St Cuthbert’s seemed large and full of possibility! Florida: I began at St Cuthbert’s on an Endeavour Scholarship, as a shy Year 7. Before this, I had only been exposed to the community that I grew up in, where majority of the people looked and lived in a similar way to me. Therefore, the diversity at St Cuthbert’s was very new and amazed me when I first arrived.

Q: What have been your favourite experiences so far at St Cuthbert’s? Carmel: Definitely Kahunui! It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, where you will certainly grow more as a person as well as both discover and develop relationships around you. Also, Po FiaFia nights; it’s an absolute pleasure to share my culture with the College and to see how our College community embraces the cultural differences among students. It is truly something special. Helena: I’ve have had two experiences at St Cuthbert’s that have impacted me greatly: Kahunui and The Big Sing 2019. Both opportunities gave me a chance to step away from the normal pace of life and get to know my peers in a way that was unique and has created lasting friendships. As clichéd as it sounds, I learnt a lot about myself through both experiences – I feel that they have helped me figure out the person I want to be.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Head Girl: Carmel Ah Chong , Deputy Head Girl: Helena Haldane, Deputy Head Girl: Katya De Silva, Deputy Head Girl: Florida Mataio, (absent Charlotte Berry, Head Boarder)

“ ‘By Love Serve’ is more than just a school motto. It is a sentiment to carry with you throughout your life – it teaches us that the way you treat people must stem from a place of love and humanity no matter the differences that divide us.” Helena Haldane

Florida: I’ve loved being a part of cultural groups and sports teams. Through these co-curricular activities, I have made memories, many friendships and built bonds with people, for which I will always be grateful. St Cuthbert’s will always be special to me because I grew into the person I am today, whilst being here. I’ve met so many beautiful people from different cultures, religious backgrounds and more. They’ve allowed me to see the world through their perspectives, which has taught me to always keep an open mind. They’ve also showed me the importance of embracing our differences. The most important lesson that I’ve learned whilst being here, is how we should know, value and be our authentic selves. We tend to appreciate ourselves more when we know our self-worth, which is vital for our happiness and wellbeing as growing young women. Katya: It’s hard to choose, but I think all my favourite experiences come down to the community. Kahunui has an incredible campus, but what really makes it special is the girls you experience it with. In a similar way, rowing can be exhausting and a huge commitment, but it’s given me so many friendships across all year levels.

Q: What does ‘By Love Serve’ mean to you? Carmel: I think ‘By Love Serve’ means to serve others unconditionally. Regardless of the differences that you may have, the love that you have for others prevails and in turn, you serve (with love, might I add). After all, anyone can be of service to others, but not everyone can serve with love. Helena: To me, ‘By Love Serve’ is more than just a College motto. It is a sentiment to carry with you throughout your life – it teaches us that the way you treat people must stem from a place of love and humanity, no matter the differences that divide us. Florida: To me, ‘By Love Serve’ means to do things for others out of love, expecting nothing in return. It can look like lending a helping hand or even a listening ear. ‘By Love Serve’ is having empathy and showing kindness and is as simple as giving your time to help those who are in need. Katya: I think ‘By Love Serve’ is a really direct reminder that service isn’t about personal recognition – people can often have a ‘do it for the badge’ mentality. When we consider service as an expression of love instead, we don’t need recognition or reciprocation – we can just share our love for the joy of it.

Q: What are your interests and passions? Carmel: One of my main interests is in health, something that I’ve always wanted to learn about from a young age, growing up in a family

that loved fitness and sport. Over the years, I’ve discovered how the different aspects of your health impact one another and therefore I like to focus on and maintain a balanced lifestyle. This includes my love for getting into the outdoors which is important for my mental wellbeing, varying my training for my physical health and staying in touch with the spiritual side of things, through prayer. I have a passion for helping others and am therefore wanting to pursue Medicine as a career as, in a nutshell, it combines my interest in health with my passion for helping others. As the old saying goes, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Helena: I love performing whether it be in the Shakespeare Soirée, in Saints Alive or with my Drama class – it brings me so much joy. I enjoy playing guitar and piano – singing has always been a passion of mine. I also spend a lot of my time reading – any genre and any author! Florida: I’m passionate about working with people; I love learning about people’s stories; and I also love culture and embracing it. I believe that it’s important for everyone to know and embrace their roots, as well as where they come from, because it allows others to see and experience it as well. Katya: Horse riding, rowing and surfing are some of my favourite activities as I feel most alive when I’m outdoors and moving. Music is also a love of mine – I could spend hours listening, playing and learning music. St Cuthbert’s is wonderful in the way it gives girls the opportunity to pursue their interests and

foster them into real passions.

Q: What kind of leader are you looking to be this year? Carmel: I’m looking to be a leader that helps other students to both recognise and develop their own leadership potential. Helena: I am looking to be a leader with empathy and compassion – allowing all members of the St Cuthbert’s community to realise their value, meaning and worth. I want members of this community to know that I am invested in them and want to unify our collective, to strengthen the potential we have. Florida: I aspire to be a leader who is approachable, respectful and open-minded, always aiming to do the best for our College and our girls. I also hope to be a voice for those who aren’t heard or to create a platform for them to express themselves. Katya: I believe that Leadership requires an equal relationship with the people you lead – whether personal or professional, mutual respect is key. I’ve found the quickest way to earn the respect of those you lead is to work just as hard for them as they do for you.

Q: What are your key focusses this year in your role? Carmel: To create more synergy throughout the different sectors of the school, for example across the Senior and Junior Schools; and to build trust amongst students, particularly within Tutor Groups, to ensure that girls feel comfortable sharing.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Helena: At the beginning of the year Carmel, Charlotte, Florida, Katya and I created this statement for the legacy we wanted our leadership to leave, ‘Through uniting we find our true value and therefore our full potential’. This is what I want to focus on – uniting our College through the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ programme, highlighting the many fabulous girls that are part of our College and strengthening the part that the Tutor Groups play in our education. I believe that this will allow girls to redefine their personal ‘amazing’ and realise their potential. I am so honoured to be in the Leadership team. As much as I feel this year is going to be an exciting one, it will also be a test of our resilience and, more than ever, we will need to provide strength for one another. Florida: As young women, there are things that we go through, which parents and teachers won’t always understand. Therefore, one of my main focusses for this year is to assist in strengthening the ‘Sisterhood’ throughout the entire College. Hopefully, it will allow our girls to feel more supported, knowing that they have a ‘sister’, somewhere in the College, whom they can rely on. Katya: I’d like to focus on our College’s values programme – coming to St Cuthbert’s is such a privilege, and when we all take that gratitude to help our wider community, we can make a real difference. It’s really special when the College comes together for a cause.

Head Boarder : Charlotte Berry

Q: Can you share with us how long you have been at St Cuthbert’s? I started St Cuthbert’s in Year 9 when I transferred here from a school in Hong Kong to begin Boarding at the Epsom campus.

Q: What are your interests and passions? I am super interested in writing and how stories are told, as well as representation in media and entertainment. I spend most of my free time reading, writing and, for sports, I rock climb with the College climbing club.

Q: What does ‘By Love Serve’ mean to you? Head Girl Carmel Ah Chong with the new mascot “Tartan Tiger”

‘By Love Serve’ means being kind to the people around you and helping out where you can when you can.

Q: What kind of leader are you looking to be this year? I’m hoping that I’m the kind of leader that is kind and dependable as well as approachable. Being a Boarder, girls have seen me at my best and worst so there is no room to fake it. Everyone in this leadership team is truly authentic. We don’t have to put up a front and honesty is key.

Q: What are your key focusses this year in your role?

“ To me, ‘By Love Serve’ means to do things for others out of love, expecting nothing in return. ”

One of my key focusses is making sure that everyone in Boarding is set up with really solid support systems throughout the year, especially new students. Within the day school, we’re hoping to bridge some of the gap between year groups, in particular between the Junior School and Senior School.

Q: What have been your favourite experiences so far at St Cuthbert’s? I really enjoy all the clubs and groups at the College. I’ve made tonnes of new friends and met lots of cool people I may have not otherwise, and everyone gets the opportunity to be in a space with others who have similar interests.

Florida Mataio 17

Opening doors to the future In 2021, career paths are dynamic, competitive and can be unconventional. At St Cuthbert’s we start future-focussed conversations with our girls early to ensure they are well-equipped to navigate what lies ahead. Through our successful academic programmes we ensure no doors are closed, so our girls can choose the direction that suits them.

Despite encountering a turbulent year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, our class of 2020 achieved stellar academic results. 97.5% of our Year 13 leavers achieved UE across our IB and NCEA programmes. Per capita/eligibility we tied first equal for the highest number of NZQA scholarships awarded to a New Zealand school, gaining 56, including seven Outstanding Scholarships. We also had one student, last year’s Dux Belinda Hu, who achieved a perfect 45/45 score in IB and is one of only five New Zealand students in 2020 to do so. With such amazing results it is always interesting to see where our girls head next, especially with COVID-19 changing the way we view the world. Interestingly, the 2020 student cohort still looked outwards and continued the trend of applying to many different international universities. This cohort was awarded 80 tertiary scholarships of varying values and totalling more than NZ$2million. Several of our girls have received tertiary scholarships to international universities

including Violette Perry’s scholarship to Yale University (Connecticut), Millie Caughey to Duke University (North Carolina), Flora Pang to Toronto University, Connie Wing to SVA School of Visual Arts (New York), Jessica Ingram to Marist University (New York), and Belinda Hu to Sydney University. Renee Zhang has also been accepted to Cambridge University (UK).

Our Careers Programme Creating opportunities for students to flourish is a pivotal goal of our Careers team led by Mrs Rhonda Vink. Career education, guidance and advice are provided through a comprehensive programme with specific Careers classes beginning in Year 10. Students are supported on their journey of self-discovery and have the chance to engage with their peers in discussions and targeted career activities. Throughout Years 7–13, Careers and Future Focus are included as part of our Health Education and Beyond (HUB) Programme. Students grow their understanding about the changing global world, learn how important it is to become agile and flexible workers, how to develop their creativity, and how to collaborate in new and different ways. Our Career counsellors also offer individual appointments for students, which parents are welcome to attend. Many of our students also look globally for experiences and our Careers team has international experience and a wide network of people through which to establish connections. Our girls are guided through the process of researching and applying to study at local or overseas tertiary institutions, GAP programmes or short exchange programmes. In addition, our programme includes annual Careers Evenings, mentoring with professionals through the ‘Alumni-Year 13 Career Breakfast’ event, university presentations, course planning and specific careers presentations to help our girls prepare for the future.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Millie Caughey awarded prestigious Robertson Scholarship to Duke University Millie Caughey, our 2020 Deputy Head Girl, is planning a career in global public service. She has been awarded a prestigious Robertson Scholarship to study at Duke University, North Carolina, USA. “From the first time I asked my parents whether or not the chicken I was eating for dinner came from a real live chicken, I’ve been fascinated by the way people make ethical decisions,” says Millie. “Through a study of both philosophy and international comparative studies, I hope to develop an understanding of the way politics shapes the way people view themselves and their place in broader society. “The St Cuthbert’s Careers Department was an incredible resource during my journey. The team went beyond making sure I simply met deadlines, providing opportunities and resources to explore global university options. Their constant support ensured at every moment I felt secure, supported and confident. I probably wouldn’t have ever found out about the scholarship without their willingness to help me explore every opportunity.” John Taylor, Chair of the Robertson Scholarship Selection Committee, says, “Millie came across as a very talented, articulate and creative scholar, with a delightfully quirky sense of humour. Her strong leadership and communication skills will enable her to give a lot to, and gain a lot from, the Robertson Scholarship Leadership Programme.”

Sophie Paine Chooses the Path Less Travelled

Noor Randhawa receives the PWC Mentor Scholarship

Sophie Paine is currently studying an Arts and Science conjoint degree at Victoria University in Wellington and was awarded a Tangiwai Scholarship in acknowledgement of her 2020 academic successes.

2020 Graduate, Noor Randhwa, is a successful applicant of the PWC Mentor Scholarship. The scholarship provides graduates with the opportunity to be mentored by a PWC partner from the business area best suited to them and includes internship opportunities.

She says it was the information gained during her time at school that really helped her focus on what she wanted to do next. She was recently involved in a mentoring session for our current students and gave the following advice. “Use the resources you have with the Careers counsellors and on myCollege. I looked at a lot of overseas universities and found out about them through the careers team. There are alot of great career resources at St Cuthbert’s.” “I looked at various universities in Europe because I wanted a chance to travel. I chose the Netherlands specifically for the university there, as it was the best choice for me not only in terms of courses available to study but also in the richness of the university’s life. It has small classes, is in a university town, close and very nice accommodation available, and also a rich music life, which was very important to me.”

This experience works hand in hand with Noor’s university studies. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce with a double major in Marketing and Operational and Supply Chain Management at the University of Auckland. This on-the-job experience is so important for Noor, who is excited about having the opportunity to witness the corporate world first-hand. “This scholarship is a good stepping-stone to understand what corporate culture is like firsthand. I also want to travel overseas and increase my work experience in the corporate world. Travelling would definitely tick some of the boxes to gain skills for independency and to help decide where I’d enjoy growing even more.” Noor says it’s so important to explore various careers while at school to really find what you love.

“The College (and especially Mrs Vink) were incredibly helpful in providing resources to find out about many universities and helped lots with the more difficult parts of the application process, like writing a ‘Letter of Motivation’.”

An Overview of the Class of 2020 Since graduating from St Cuthbert’s in 2020, our Year 13 students have gone on to pursue a broad range of tertiary education and employment or GAP experiences:

123 28 12

(69%) students studying at New Zealand tertiary institutions

(24%) students will move to study at overseas tertiary institutions (7%) students undertaking a GAP year

Tertiary Scholarships

80 8

Total number of scholarships International Scholarships

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Unsung Heroes Meet the Parent Class Coordinators and House Representatives of St Cuthbert’s It’s busy being a parent nowadays, keeping up with your daughter’s wonderful (and sometimes enviable) school and social lives can feel like a job in its own right!

Given the fast pace of our lives we are especially grateful to a group of wonderful parents at St Cuthbert’s who have volunteered to make school life a little easier for our parent community; our St Cuthbert’s Class Coordinators and House Representatives. These unsung heroes are often helping their class on top of other commitments and we would like to thank them for all they do to make our students’ (and therefore their parents’) lives run just that little bit more smoothly. Every class at St Cuthbert’s, across Years 0 – 7, has a dedicated Class Coordinator and then, between Years 8 – 10, each House has their own coordinator we call ‘House Reps’. Our Class Coordinators are a key part of deepening a sense of community. Amongst other tasks they organise termly social gatherings which allow the families of each class to come together and get to know each other better; perfect for creating a sense of kinship and getting to know the parents of your daughter’s newest class friend whom you might not have otherwise bumped into. Another key role is the passing on of more informal information from a teacher to the parent group which helps to keep everyone informed and across the various events our College organises. Our Class Coordinators and House Reps bring wonderful glue to our community by helping families out at challenging times, such as the arrival of a new sibling. Very sadly, last year a parent passed away and without being asked by the school, the class coordinators kindly organised meals to be delivered to the St Cuthbert’s family in need – ‘By Love Serve’ clearly isn’t something limited to our students. This group of wonderful parents get together for catch-ups themselves and have a lot of fun together. If you are interested in becoming a Year 0 –7 Class Coordinator or Year 8 –10 House Rep at any point please check in with the Chair of P&F, Elisabeth Bell; we’d love to have you as part of our extended St Cuthbert’s special family!

Connecting our Community Principal’s Party We were fortunate to have enjoyed a warm sunny evening with our Years 7–13 parents at the annual Principal’s Party. The Parents & Friends Quad garden was abuzz with chatter, laughter and music courtesy of David Edmundson and the student Jazz Band. Many teachers also attended the event and had a great time meeting and talking to parents, especially the new parents whose daughters joined the school this year. The Principal’s Party is an event held at the beginning of the year to welcome back, and welcome new, Senior School parents. With the much-appreciated help of Parents & Friends volunteers, Prefects and Boarders, it is our biggest parent gathering of the year on the

College calendar. Chinese New Year Festivities On 12 February, the Asian Friendship Group members decorated the atrium with dozens of colourful paper lanterns in time to celebrate

Chinese New Year. Attached to each lantern were two or three riddles (in both English and Chinese) for the students to solve. A correct answer to the riddle meant receiving a red envelope filed with a gold (chocolate) coin! In less than 20 minutes the next morning, all 100 riddles were solved, and all red envelopes handed out! The Asian Friendship Group, led by Nancy Zhang, wish everyone in the St Cuthbert’s community a happy and healthy Year of the Ox, filled with fun and learning!

Meet the Junior School Teachers Event Despite rain earlier in the day and more threatening rain clouds on the horizon, over 200 parents gathered in the Clouston Hall for the Junior School ‘Meet the Teachers’ event. After visiting each individual classroom for a thorough and informative presentation, parents joined teachers for drinks and nibbles in the Junior School Playground. All agreed it was a lovely start to the school year.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

A new model for teacher training: St Cuthbert’s welcomes the University of Waikato School-Based Teacher Trainee Programme Rob Griffiths, Head of Faculty: Languages is the mentor managing our four trainee teachers. He explains what the SchoolBased Teacher Trainee Programme is all about.

LEFT TO RIGHT: Briar Lawry, Tom Rutledge, Elly Wang, Rob Griffiths.

I am thrilled to be a part of the School-Based Teacher Trainee Programme, which was devised by a group of 12 Auckland Principals in partnership with the University of Waikato with our College Principal Justine, a key driver of this with her previous experience as a senior lecturer at the former Auckland College of Education. The programme, conceived in Level 4 Lockdown last year, was born out of a desire to attract high quality individuals into the teaching profession while supporting them through their training and ultimately retaining them at their school. The Trainee Programme is also predicated on quite a different model to traditional teacher training which is based primarily at a university for theoretical learning and then in schools for short blocks of professional experience. This programme essentially reverses the model so that the trainees are based primarily within a school for the entire year, experiencing the classroom and working alongside a teacher from the first day. It is essentially like an apprenticeship model, based on the belief that the best learning happens within the teaching and classroom environment. During the year, the trainees complete

online work through the University of Waikato, which provides a theoretical basis to underpin their practical experiences within the classroom. They are considered to be a staff member and so attend meetings, participate in co-curricular activities, accompany students on trips, and so on. Most importantly, they can develop a more profound relationship with a few classes over an entire year which is not possible in the practicum block placements of the traditional teacher training programme. There was huge interest in the programme from a wide range of people from all different backgrounds and rich life experiences. Within the programme across the Auckland schools, there is a former Air New Zealand aircraft engineer, someone who served in the Swiss Army, someone with a background in the New Zealand media industry and others with fascinating subject combinations such as Te Reo M ori, Modern Dance, Music and Chemistry, among others. There was a shortlisting process followed by interviews and final selection. This again, completely different from regular teacher training programmes whereby trainees are allocated to schools at random. We were particularly impressed by our trainees’ motivation for entering the profession, especially when it might have involved a courageous career change. We were also impressed by their life experiences and professional backgrounds before choosing to pursue a career in secondary school teaching. We feel that this will give an added perspective to their teaching and provide another dimension to their classroom as well as enrichening the lives of our own students. The trainees will initially shadow a teacher and observe their classes while being involved behind the scenes with lesson planning and conversations about effective pedagogy. St Cuthbert’s has four trainees this year: Louise Fisher, Briar Lawry, Elly Wang and Tom Rutledge. We are very excited to have them as a part of our school community. Let’s meet them…

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Briar Lawry

Elly Wang

Tom Rutledge

Briar is based in the English Department with Head of English, Amber Lloyd and Head of Writing, Ros Ali. As an Old Girl, she is really enjoying being back at St Cuthbert’s. Here are her thoughts:

Elly is working in our Languages Faculty teaching Chinese. She works closely with Head of Chinese, Sylvia Chen. Elly is really enjoying teaching at St Cuthbert’s, and shared the following:

Tom is a committed teacher with more than 20 years in the tertiary sector before changing tack to teach in schools. He is enjoying working with Rob Griffiths, Head of Languages. Tom says:

“As an Old Girl, it’s been a real privilege to come back to St Cuthbert’s in this capacity. So many things, and so many people are familiar, but there is also so much that is exciting and new. I always assumed that teaching was something I would end up doing, but I’m really glad that I went out and had a fair bit of other life experience before taking the plunge, as my working life todate has proven an invaluable foundation.

“Tēnā koutou, Nǐ hăo, Hi everyone. I was a qualified Mandarin teacher in China and graduated with a master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Auckland in 2016.

“I’ve had a career change of sorts – I’d been in the UK for 20 years, working mostly at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, teaching English and Latin literature with a particular focus on Medieval and Renaissance literature. So, I have been committed to teaching for a long time. I love working with young people, encouraging and sharing their discoveries; I love the openness and humour with which they’re willing to take on new things. I love Latin and am deeply committed to giving others the chance to discover the joys of the language and its literature.

“Aside from a few years dabbling in Communications and Content Marketing, my work has always been in and around the book industry here in Aotearoa – as a bookseller, a reviewer, an editor, a writer, a national book awards judge... among other things. Taking the opportunity to begin my teaching career in a school with such a strong English department and specialist writing programme, to boot, was a no-brainer. “I know how formative some of my teachers were in encouraging my skill and passions, and, it’s my hope that with time, I can be that teacher for my students and help them find their voice and a life-long love of literature.”

I have had two roles since last year at St Cuthbert’s. My Chinese language assistant role has involved assisting the classroom teacher to enhance the delivery of the curriculum in order to improve student achievement in learning the Chinese language. For example, I will work with small groups of students to provide extension or consolidation of their learning. Also, I currently hold Limited Authority to Teach which allows me to teach two Year 9 Chinese classes independently. For me, becoming a qualified teacher is not about gaining a teaching qualification. It is about making a personal commitment to a nation, to a community, to family and to individual learners. There is a lot of benefit in this programme which sees training teachers complete their studies remotely while being fully immersed in a school environment. I am very grateful to work in the Faculty of Languages at St Cuthbert’s, and really appreciate having the opportunity to be part of the Programme. “

“I’ve really enjoyed my start at the College – the Languages Faculty has been exceptionally warm and welcoming and it’s lovely to have the company of so many others who are committed to the value of language-learning. They have a lot of fun together and have been extremely generous in sharing their knowledge and experience with me. The girls in the Latin classes and in the Tutor Group I’ve joined, have been great – bright, engaged, quick to learn and quick to laugh, which, it seems to me, is a pretty good mix in any classroom.”

Living together, working together, holidaying together and carpooling – the sibling bond is clear between our wonderful St Cuthbert’s Year 1 teacher and Years 0–3 Dean, Emily Fisher, and her delightful sister, Louise Fisher. Emily and Louise Fisher have found themselves embarking on a new chapter in 2021. This is partly due to COVID-19, as it was in the 2020 Level 4 lockdown that Louise started pondering a career change. Louise has worked as a pharmacist for the past three years. She says, “I enjoyed the work but eventually I missed the interaction with people as I spent my days dispensing medications. By the time I reached my third year, the role had become repetitive, so I have decided to become a Senior School Chemistry teacher instead!” Louise is now studying a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching at Waikato University and has joined the School-based Teacher Trainee Programme. She will be based at St Cuthbert’s for most of the school year as well

as experiencing one other school as part of the scheme. While it is undeniably courageous to make a career change, it is not surprising Louise has set her sights on education as according to her sister, Emily, they come from a long line of educators. Laughs Emily, “Education runs in the family. Mum is a primary school teacher and our grandmother on Dad’s side, and we have several aunties and a cousin teaching from early childhood age right through to Senior School.” In fact, it was sister Emily who heard about the School-Based Teacher Trainee Programme and St Cuthbert’s involvement

Education is in the blood for our teaching sisters 26

and alerted Louise to the opportunity. Louise is so far loving her time and will be working closely with mentors Ian Torrie and Tom Curtis in the Science Faculty. “It’s amazing to be part of a school and encounter all the facets from time in different classrooms to faculty meetings. It’s a really great opportunity to get practical experience. What I like is that all the teachers are willing to share their ideas and collaborate. It’s really cool to see different ways of teaching – some through stories and fun, others use amazing explanations and all have their own way of delivering content. This is great to observe.” Emily agrees. When she trained to be a teacher, time in an actual school classroom was limited and she felt a little under prepared on her first few days teaching. “What’s so great is that Louise is here for most of the school year and she can follow classes through and see how the whole year runs and what it is like to implement a classroom programme. She can also experience staff planning, parent-teacher interviews and more.” For Emily, teaching has always been the only career for her – she briefly flirted with the idea

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

of being a lawyer but all her friends reminded her that she is a born teacher. Emily used to spend time helping in her Mum’s primary school classroom as a high school student. For Emily, she is passionate about the early years. She says, “Our Junior School is somewhere really special with the most amazing teachers I have ever worked with and I feel lucky every day.” “We all work hard because we have so much passion for building the foundation of education for our students. The girls love learning. Recently one of my girls was sent home because she wasn’t well, and she was beside herself at the thought of missing school.”

Louise has relocated to Auckland to take up this placement and is now living with her sister. They also recently hiked the Abel Tasman together and love outdoor pursuits as they hail from the Rotorua Lake District and spent their childhood outdoors and on the water. They say they have always been close and followed a similar path in life.

Louise concludes, “I am already enjoying my time here so much. So far, I have spent time in several different classes of different year levels and subjects. I have nearly worked out where things are on the campus too. I am thrilled to have been chosen for this role and to continue on this journey and learn all that I can from the amazing staff here.”

“It has been great to have Emily around,” says Louise. “In the beginning, we carpooled and it’s helpful to ask all my questions about getting around the Epsom campus and finding out who is who. But we don’t really see each other all that often on campus as we are working in different parts of the College.”

We wish you both all the best in your time here at St Cuthbert’s!

“Our Junior School is somewhere really special with the most amazing teachers I have ever worked with and I feel lucky every day.” Emily Fisher

St Cuthbert’s Leads the way in Science Education Over the past five years, St Cuthbert’s has taken a leadership role amongst New Zealand independent schools with its innovative approach to Science education.

St Cuthbert’s specialist Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science teachers teach Science in dedicated Science laboratories, to girls in Years 5 and 6 in the Junior School, and Year 7 and 8 in the Senior School. These classes set us apart from other schools in that they are led by Senior School teachers and allow our girls to experience Science in hands-on laboratory sessions, and develop their love of Science from an early age. Providing dedicated subject teachers, in dedicated laboratories, has helped to shape our students’ understanding and passion for Science and the world around them and open them up to a world of possibilities from a much earlier age, in what has been traditionally a male-dominated arena.

Stimulating young brains The teachers are big believers in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and when it comes to the Sciences, they are a strong advocates for the role of science, scientific process and scientific thought being taught at earlier year levels. Tom Curtis, Head of Faculty, Science, explains that the reasoning, critical thinking, investigation that are required for Science education are much like a language. It uses and stimulates a different part of the brain and is integral for brain development. Younger students have an open mindset and are more willing to take risks and explore ideas without being limited by the social context that comes with the fear of failure. This open mindset, enthusiasm to keep asking why, willingness to explore a theory and get it wrong and then get back up and do it again, builds resilience in our girls and prepares them well for future learning.

Classes are held in specialist labs where they are inspired by display areas filled with models, posters and displays of the Seniors’ work. This is an important element as it allows the girls to experience a real laboratory and to do what they call, ‘proper science’. After receiving the more formal ‘lesson’ and instruction from their teacher, where they are introduced to the concepts which they have a chance to discuss, the girls move to the lab stations to undertake the practical element of the class. Working in groups of three, the energy levels are high, and the excitement is visible as the girls burst into each practical with enthusiasm. Group size has been intentionally limited to three to ensure each girl has the opportunity to voice her opinion and ideas. Our girls and teachers all say that the time they have together flies! The lessons are filled with chatter and they never run out of things to talk about or discover.

There are no limits to learning At Years 5, 6 and 7, social context does not influence behaviour in class and when faced with a problem or challenge, our girls are willing to try and fail and move forward. As students move into Years 8 and 9, it has been wellrecognised that they become more socially aware, which they translate into a hesitancy

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

to take risks in class due to a concern of what their peers may think of them. At this point in the educational process, students also start focussing on how they will be assessed and what they need to know, rather than delving further and truly questioning what they are working on. Taking all these factors into consideration, Tom, saw the opportunity to stimulate a deeper passion for Science in our girls at the Year 5 – 7 levels through the engagement with specialist Science teachers. “We aim to feed the girls’ desire to know how and why things work, to feed that enquiry, and help them explore scientific concepts really well,” said Tom. Tom worked with the entire Science faculty to map a curriculum from Years 5 – 13 in order to ensure the units of work were developmentally appropriate. They planned and developed key concepts and topics for each year level, establishing learning objectives for each teaching year, and for each department – Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science. Although we simply call it ‘Science’ in the Junior School, these girls are learning concepts from each of the Science streams. A unique opportunity for both our girls and our teachers. The excitement amongst our teaching team was inspiring! They had the opportunity to design a curriculum for Years 5 and 6, which would essentially front-end the girls’ learning across their entire school years. The team looked at girls in Year 13 and said, “How can I implement changes from Year 5 onwards which will help them get there with the best mindset, foundations and experiences? We aim to feed the girls’ desire to know how and why things work, to feed that enquiry, and help them explore scientific concepts really well”.

“Providing dedicated subject teachers, in dedicated laboratories, has helped to shape our students’ understanding and passion for Science and the world around them and opens them up to a world of possibilities from a much earlier age in what has been traditionally a male-dominated arena”.

Now that our girls have been exposed to Science teaching across Years 5 – 7 it will help them step up to achieve more at a later Senior School level as they have been exposed to the same philosophies and techniques, just with a different level of complexity. This gradual ‘step up’ to Senior Science and mapped sequential learning, supports our girls’ ability to adapt to the transitions at each year level and set them up for future learning. The introduction to Science in both the Junior School and Year 7, is expected to have a flow-on effect with many of our girls following through with Science across Years 9 – 13. By Year 10, every girl will have a solid basis to choose their specialty subjects for NCEA or IB (should they wish to). The potential for extraordinary learning is huge!”

Be a part of our journey to Carbon Zero In November of 2019, before we knew how COVID-19 would shakeup our lives, a goal of being a Carbon Zero school community was formed in the St Cuthbert’s Global Citizenship Strategic Plan.

This is no small feat and must be completed with the complete buy-in of the College community. However, this didn’t stop us from taking on this vital challenge in response to the increasing demand from our students, our parent community, peers, board and staff – asking and expecting a climate-responsible way of operating our College. After all, climate change is a critical long-term issue, one that will affect the great-grandchildren (and beyond) of today’s students. We are proud to say our journey has started to achieve Carbon Zero status by 2030; the year set for the United Nations Development Goals to be achieved. There are many benefits of being Carbon Zero including student, community and staff engagement; strengthened relationships with local and international organisations; living sustainably; and participating in the local community for the greater good. A project of this magnitude takes guidance and so we have enlisted the help of Toit Envirocare, this partnership came from a meeting Libby Giles,

Head of Global Citizenship, had at the UN Climate Change Conference (#COP25) in Madrid in December 2019. To begin, St Cuthbert’s has become the first school in New Zealand to partner with Toit on a Carbon Zero journey. Our operations team is now working alongside the experts at Toit to assess the school’s carbon footprint (based on 2019 school year) and develop a bespoke action plan. How can our St Cuthbert’s community get involved? We are engaging staff, students and parents to harness the passion that is required to help us achieve such an important target. We were so proud to hear the participation from our students, in particular, at our recent Carbon Zero taskforce meeting, and have opportunities over the coming months for our parents and wider community to jump onboard, too. This is more than just an action plan, this is a promise for College’s families now and in the future that our College’s goals and values will always consider the impact we are having on our precious planet. Let’s achieve this important milestone together!

1) 2020

2) 2021

3) 2022

4) 2023 – 2029

5) 2030 Target

St Cuthbert’s is the first school to partner with Toitū

A school and community task force is formed

The carbon reduction action plan is threaded through every relevant project in the school

Work continues to measure, reduce, and achieve emission-reducing projects.

St Cuthbert’s – the first Carbon Zero school in New Zealand!

EVERGREEN TIES | MAY 2021

What is Toitū’s role in this project?

How can I get involved?

• They provide carbon expertise and knowledge. Toitū has worked with thousands of organisations including the University of Auckland, the University of Canterbury and the University of Bristol to name a few.

• We would love your help, and it doesn’t have to be big as we are running a huge variety of planet-conscious projects across our school.

• Toitū provide us with cloud-based carbon software tool which allows us to measure and manage the St Cuthbert’s carbon inventory. • By working with Toit ū we do so with confidence that our carbon credentials are robust and in line with the United Nations goals.

• Simply drop an email to libby.giles@stcuthberts.school.nz and she will add you to our welcoming group of positive change makers • Join us at our first Parent Symposium in June, we look forward to seeing you soon!

“We need to work together to reduce our carbon footprint and to create a more sustainable future for our girls”

“Young people are standing up and seeking systemic change for a fairer, cleaner future - let’s support them”

— Justine Mahon, Principal

— Libby Giles, Global Citizenship Lead

“Being a part of the initiative goes beyond being carbon neutral – it’s showing that we care about something greater than ourselves”

“By Love Sustain! Now is the time for action. Together we will make a difference and teach our girls ethical habits that will last a lifetime”

— Charlotte Berry, Head Boarder

— Hélène Bizouerne Grayston, Parent and member of the Carbon Zero Taskforce

We would love you to be a part of our Carbon Zero journey, find out more on myCollege.

IMPORTANT PAINTINGS CONTEMPORARY ART

Now accepting entries for auction on 17 August 2021. Illustrated: artworks by Gretchen Albrecht, Ian Scott, Michael Parekōwhai, and Michael Smither from our auction held on 23 March. Exhibition videos, installation views, catalogues, and live auction streaming and bidding all available online via artandobject.co.nz.

ART + OBJECT

Social Sciences Get ready to ditch perceptions of leather elbow patches!

Abandon all stereotypes of leather elbow patches and hours of rote learning – Social Sciences is one of the most important subjects a student could wish to be a part of, and this St Cuthbert’s Faculty is challenging girls to help drive all of us into a better tomorrow. Mary Robinson, Head of Faculty: Social Sciences, may have been at St Cuthbert’s for 21 years but she’s more like a 21-yearold in our opinion! Her continual challenging of convention, passion to drive empathy and understanding from students, and pride in her incredible teachers, is a lifeforce behind the Social Sciences Faculty. One of the challenges of teaching Social Sciences is that it comprises subjects which are dissimilar to each other: Geography, History and Social Studies; and, in addition, Environmental Systems is taught at IB level. St Cuthbert’s Social Sciences teachers cover more than one subject and they are impressive in the way they can switch between such deep individual subjects at the ring of a bell. One

period they’ll be teaching biodiversity on the West Coast of New Zealand to Year 8s, the next they are examining the structure of the South Korean Government with Year 12s. Mary admits, “for our teachers the broadness of the subjects, and the rapid switching between them is challenging….but it’s that challenge which brings the joy, enthusiasm and desire to light a fire of interest in our students’ minds”. Those 30-something and over are likely to have memories of stuffy teachers, in stuffier rooms, teaching a list of dates and places you were pressured to remember in order to pass - it was all about the where and when. Yet, to Mary and her team, it’s the ‘but why?’ which is vital, and that is what our St Cuthbert’s Social Sciences Faculty had in mind when they determined to turn the teaching of History, Geography and Social Studies on its head. “History gives us the gift of reflection as, without looking back and developing a rich understanding of why events happen, we can’t develop empathy or hope to affect changes for

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

the future. By understanding the viewpoints and feelings of those who took part in historic events, so we can all better understand humanity”. This is complementary to the subject Social Studies in which Mary says “as teachers we strive to give students a sense of the world they are living in, from there we can show them how it is changing so they can better play their part in tomorrow’s world”. Gone are the days of Geography being a case of memorising cities and countries, as to this faculty, getting students to think, not rote learn, is a nonnegotiable outcome. “We need our students to ask us, themselves and each other “what if?” and “how might people feel or be affected if….”.

“We need our students to ask us, themselves and each other “what if?”

In 2019, Mary and her team developed a framework to centre all of their teaching – be it History, Geography or Social Studies. That framework was adaptable by age and developmental stage, allowing the faculty to create strong foundations from Year 7 and build on those to delve into challenging and more mature conversations around tough subjects. Mary says “from Year 7 we wanted all of our students to have a sense of belonging to Auckland, regardless of their point of origin, be it recently or generations ago. In Year 8 it’s broadened to reflect New Zealand; by Year 9 the focus is on Australasia, Asia and the Pacific; extending in Year 10 and beyond to take a Global perspective, but we always ask our students to relate it back to their home, for example in History in Year 12 we would ask “Why was the Holocaust relevant to New Zealand?” or in Geography at this level we would question “How does a volcanic eruption in the Caribbean possibly relate to New Zealand?” By creating a sense of belonging through all the subjects, the Social Sciences Faculty has formed a real connection between the student and the subject, a nice by-product of which reflects a

sense of community, a passion to take care of their little piece of the world, as well as greater retention of the information as they feel more invested.” When asked about where studying Social Sciences takes a student Mary responds with a wry smile “where doesn’t it”! Traditionally, History has been a strong subject to develop writing and leads into Journalism and Law. Geography is not only a favourite of those who wish to study environmental issues it has also been proven to be the catalyst for students moving into Medicine,, after all, by learning about the ‘rich and poor’ and the affect that healthcare has, many girls feel compassion and compulsion to practise Medicine in order to redress the societal balance. Becoming a Social Scientist is increasingly popular, perhaps because it means one is a part of solving some of our biggest issues, Cyber Security, Energy Sources, Climate Change and Criminology, to name but a few. So this Faculty has challenged convention, secured the right resources and classrooms to inspire our girls and created a strategic framework for teaching – is this what makes the difference we asked Mary? She doesn’t miss a breath when she replies, “It’s our fabulous teachers. They are motivated, hardworking, bringing a huge array of complementary skills to the team; each of them is fascinating to be around and we each come from such different backgrounds which provides an endless source of organic, living examples to teach from. We are a truly collaborative team which is why when we challenged the convention to decide how best to teach our girls we weren’t afraid to look at what we did, what we’d like to do, the best place to do it and what resources we needed.” Mary is clearly incredibly proud of her teaching staff, and so I asked her “what makes your team a happy team, especially when they are working under the constant change of subject teaching?”. “Quite simple”, Mary replies, “We know how to have fun! We have breakfasts together, scone Fridays, share stories and our love of the world with each other but in a fun and relaxed environment. The energy we generate between us becomes obvious in our teaching of the girls. And the buzz we get from seeing that spark of curiosity turn into a student-led interest group is just so satisfying.” We can’t wait to see where our girls studying Social Sciences are going in their future, and feel grateful that this faculty has challenged them every step of the way to ask the questions which may just well protect our tomorrows.

Welcome to our newest girls The College has been abuzz with excited new students in Term 1. We asked a few students to share with us their early experiences of joining our community.

Sofia de Court Long has joined Year 4 this year, her mum, Amy de Court, is an Old Girl (peer year 1999) Q: How are you finding St Cuthbert’s? I like the teachers here, my teacher is Miss Wells; she is really nice. All the girls are kind and I have made so many new friends like Mclane, Molly, Charlotte, Hannah and Chloe. Some of them are new like me, and everyone is kind. One exciting thing happened; Ms Oldman left a note and some gummy bears for me in my letterbox during lockdown to say she was glad I joined St Cuthbert’s and well done on my online learning. I think she did this for all the new girls.

Q: What are you liking? There are nice girls here and fun work in the classroom. I am part of the choir, The Junior Blackwatch Singers. This school goes to Year 13 so I am glad I get to stay here. It is cool because my mum came here and we are in the same house; Iona. I like the art too; we have made bees and koru art. We sketched with pencils and then painted over the top.

Q: What are you finding different at St Cuthbert’s to your old school? It’s a bit bigger here but there are fewer people in the classrooms which I like. No boys is definitely better. I enjoy having different having teachers for things like Music and PE.

Q: How was your recent Year 4 camp? We went to Camp Adair. I loved the Confidence Course; it involves mud and a mud slide! We went for one night and two days. At my old school, you couldn’t go to camp until Year 6.

Q: Getting to school – I hear you catch the bus. Tell me about it. I like the bus, and I catch it every morning. My friend McLane catches it too and Isabel is my bus buddy from Year 12 and she walks me up to the bus as she lives on my street. I might be a bus buddy when I get older.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Sabrina Solomon has joined St Cuthbert’s in Year 7 Q: Hi Sabrina, pleasure to meet you. How are you finding St Cuthbert’s? I absolutely love St Cuthbert’s. I feel like I’m at home, like I’m welcomed and that I am free to be myself.

Q: I hear you are Class Captain – congratulations! How does that feel? The feeling of being chosen to be Class Captain was unreal, I didn’t believe it at first. It was scary, but I eased in.

Q: Is St Cuthbert’s very different to your old College? The size of the College and the buzzing energy is completely different to my old school. St Cuthbert’s has amazing learning facilities and the care you receive is just incredible!

and I get to meet girls outside of my class.

Q: I hope you have made some lovely friends – how have you found changing schools? Changing schools was very difficult for me, I don’t normally love the idea of big changes but this one was easy. Although I still do at times miss my old friends, I have made so many wonderful new ones.

What are you looking forward to? I am definitely excited about my newest sport, Water Polo. I need more training, but I can’t wait to learn all the tips and tricks. I also can’t wait to get back into Netball!

Paige Baker has joined St Cuthbert’s in Year 9 Q: I hope you are enjoying your first year at St Cuthbert’s! How are you finding it?

One of my favourite moments of the year was Orienteering! I loved making new friends and all the mystery, excitement, and adventure there was to it.

There are things I’m enjoying and things I find challenging. I definitely enjoy having a better tuck shop! I’m also enjoying moving from class to class and getting to do new subjects like Science and Business Studies.

Q: What do you most enjoy at St Cuthbert’s?

Q: Is St Cuthbert’s very different to your old school?

I really enjoy the Sport here. Whenever I see an upcoming opportunity to do a Sport I will definitely sign up! I love new things to try,

Yes, very different! I came from a co-ed school with over one thousand students in just Years 7 and 8 so St Cuth’s feels smaller student wise. I also quite like having seven subjects a day but

Q: What are some other highlights of the year so far?

for a shorter amount of time, rather than four, for longer periods of time.

Q: I hope you have made some lovely friends – how have you found changing schools? Yes, I’ve met a lot of great girls. Changing schools when you don’t know anyone there is a testing situation. It’s a pro and a con, meeting new people is exciting, but also quite challenging.

Q: What are some of the highlights of the year so far? A highlight for me was Athletics Day. It was awesome to see all the Houses dressed up and supporting one another. It was also really cool to have athletics at Mount Smart Stadium. Another highlight was becoming a part of the St Cuthbert’s dance group, ‘The Company’.

Q: How are you finding all the specialist subjects/different teachers etc.? I’m really enjoying this. It was great to be able to choose the specialist subjects I take this year and I like having a variety of teachers because everyone has different teaching styles and skills to offer.

What are you looking forward to? I can’t wait for Kahunui in Year 10; it’s an experience that you don’t really get to do anywhere else. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Celebrating House Flowers Each year our school Houses have the chance to express themselves creatively and have fun during House Flowers. This year’s theme chosen by the House Prefects was ‘Celebration’. The teams comprised eight Year 13 students from each House including the House Prefect, House Leader and an appointed Creative Director. Girls had four hours to complete their stunning arrangements. They were then given the opportunity to talk to the judges about their design, followed by the final announcements of category winners and overall winners. 1st: Lindisfarne 2nd: Kelso 3rd: York The competition was judged by Director of Development Holly Palmer and Old Girl Charlotte Jackson (peer year 2013). Holly says the winning design, Lindisfarne, was chosen due to it is very impactful concept as well as strong execution. She says, “The girls spoke to us about their concept of putting down the mask that you wear and letting the light from behind come through. Their design was all about being yourself and celebrating who you are, and this was a really meaningful message, especially in COVID times, when we may wear a physical as well as a metaphorical mask.” Most effective use of colour: Dunblane Most original display: Durham Most visually stunning – Wow factor: York Best response to theme: Iona Best Form, Balance and Proportion: Lindisfarne Most skill and innovative use of materials: Kelso Best Team Presentation: Melrose

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Kelso (2nd place)

York (3rd place)

Lindisfarne (1st place)

Our newest Kahunui Experience: Developing our Year 13 Girls The Kahunui Programme is an integral part of every St Cuthbert’s girls’ leadership development, as is the ‘Big Sister, Little Sister’ model, which supports connections between girls across the Senior School. With this in mind, we have launched a new Kahunui experience, for every Year 13 Leadership Committee representative.

This amazing five-day, four-night experience provides Year 13 girls with the opportunity to revisit Kahunui and take part in an outdoors-based programme, with leadership opportunities embedded in the day-to-day curriculum. The programme also includes some of the girls’ much-loved activities including kayaking, blokarting, a solo-survival experience, and a visit to the iconic Kahunui waterfall. The trip enables students to witness how their sustainability projects have come to fruition since their last visit, and, importantly, concludes with the Year 13 girls welcoming an Intake of their Year 10 ‘Little Sisters’ to Kahunui. The first Intake to experience this amazing new programme included our Year 13 Development and Games Committee, and in addition: Carmel Ah Chong, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne, Becky Fala and Jemima Hawkesby.

What impact did your Year 10 Kahunui experience have on you? Bella: Arriving at Kahunui in the summer months of Intake 7, I was a nervous yet extremely excited Year 10. I quickly learned through the various activities, that the feelings of excitement and nerves were the qualities that in fact helped me grow important skills in my Kahunui journey. Attitude was the first key lesson for me. Being excited not only helped

equip me for the challenges and encouraged me to take every opportunity at hand, but also helped develop an eager and positive attitude towards everything. It has shaped my values and gave me life skills as a 14-year-old, that I still use today and most likely will, for the rest of my life. Jemima: In Year 10, I went to Kahunui with the aim of seeing the world differently. I learnt to live in the present and take any opportunity offered to me to see through a positive light and find the good in everything. I found ways to be a leader and improve skills in the outdoors through challenging myself and analysing my surroundings. Competence, maturity and hardwork are some of the qualities that made me embrace the time I spent at Kahunui, in 2018. I feel very grateful for my time spent there.

How did it feel to re-visit Kahunui as a Year 13? Carmel: Looking around as we arrived, I couldn’t help but feel immensely proud and humbled to see how far each of us had come since Year 10 and how close we’d become. It goes to show how fast time flies and I think a lot of us felt that. We were all making the most of time at Kahu, knowing that for most of us, it’d be our final time there and one of our last experiences shared as Year 13s.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Becky: Once arriving with our Intake of Year 13 girls, memories started to flood back with endless stories about humorous and challenging times we had experienced whilst on our month away from home. It felt fulfilling to be back, as Year 10. Kahunui was one of the most life changing experiences we girls were lucky enough to be a part of – a time when we each made friends, memories and learnt life skills we will cherish and use forever.

How rewarding was it welcoming the Year 10 girls to Kahunui? Carmel: The welcoming was a gratifying moment, having once been there ourselves, it was both exciting and heart-warming to see our younger sisters embark on a journey that ties all of us St Cuthbert’s girls together. Jemima: The girls were standing in front of us with some being excited and some being a little nervous, and somehow I couldn’t put myself in their shoes even though that was me only a few years ago. I guess I just couldn’t put myself in a position to have expectations as I already knew how it all went and how I felt coming out of Kahunui. I felt very excited for them to be able to exceed their expectations, like I did, and come out of the month with hopefully, that same perspective.

What did you think about the amazing developments that have happened at Kahunui? Chloe: When returning to Kahunui for the second time as a Year 13 student, there had been some noticeable progression. Being present when introducing Farmer House to Kahunui was memorable for me as a 2021 leaver, as when I was in Year 10 this House was only just having the foundation work built. Once returning, being able to see the finished house was pivotal for me as I’m sure it will be for our Year 13 cohort, as they too, will get to experience these experiential changes which will bring back fond memories of our Year 10 Kahunui adventures. Jemima: The developments that have happened over the past year are very impressive, as is the fact that during a global pandemic, with so many disruptions and an extended lockdown, every single Year 10 managed to get down to Kahunui.

Any last words? Carmel: The Kahunui experience is just one of the many steps in the St Cuthbert’s journey, that develops girls into young women, enabled with a holistic skill set, take on the world. Some say it is life changing and I’d have to agree!

“Kahunui was one of the most life changing experiences we were lucky enough to be a part of where we each made friends, memories and learnt life skills we will cherish and use forever.” Becky Fala 41

Kahunui capacity and connection boosted thanks to the Farmer Family We are enormously grateful to the Farmer family, who made a generous donation last year to build Farmer House, the newest accommodation building at Kahunui. The house was officially opened on 19 February 2021 with the first Year 13 Leadership Intake in attendance, including Dean and Chanelle’s daughter and Year 13 Games Committee member, Brooke Farmer.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

The Trust Board has named the fifth student house on campus, in honour of the Farmer family, as without their continued support for Kahunui, additional Intakes of girls at our remote campus, including the Year 13 Committee leadership intakes, would not be possible. This new accommodation provides the programme at Kahunui with greater capacity and flexibility to help protect the sustainability of the campus and supports the team to continue to deliver outstanding life-changing experiences for students. The opening event started with a traditional pōwhiri, led by local kaumatua and kuia as well as Arapeta and Aroha Mamaku, who are on the Kahunui staff. Once the girls were welcomed and had a chance to greet staff and representatives from local iwi, Koro Jury gave a karakia to bless the house and Head Girl Carmel Ah Chong and Brooke Farmer, cut the ribbon together to officially open the building for the new arrivals.

The Farmers have been huge advocates of Kahunui and the transformative experiences it has provided our girls for over 14 years:

names of all the students who have won the ‘By Love Serve’ award for every Year 10 Kahunui Intake, since the first in 2008.

“In our view, Kahunui is a major asset to St Cuthbert’s – it gives the girls an opportunity to learn through different experiences away from everyday distractions such as social media and digital devices. They have the opportunity to participate in activities and learn skills they might not otherwise be exposed to and they face challenges they wouldn’t face in everyday life.”

The time has come to give those who have not yet experienced Kahunui, a chance to understand a little more about what the four-week stay offers.

The family’s support for Kahunui has also extended to the Epsom campus this year through a beautiful sculptural addition to the Information Centre Atrium. A large river stone necklace by Chris Charteris now hangs to the right, on entering the atrium from the Robertson Corridor. Titled ‘Lessons from Nature’, this piece has been gifted to the school by the Farmer family to symbolise the Kahunui campus. A physical Kahunui feature at Epsom has long been desired by the school, and we are thrilled that Dean Farmer and his family have championed this project. The artwork will soon be accompanied by plaques engraved with the

“We suggested it was time to tell the story of Kahunui in a visible way – without taking anything away from the actual experience. The girls take pride in having attended Kahunui and ‘Lessons From Nature’ is an acknowledgement of that – and something to aspire to for those who will be attending in the future,” Dean shares. With the sculpture’s use of river stone and its clear suggestion of connection and continuity through the neatly stacked stone ‘beads’, the piece represents the bond to nature, community and generations past, that we have come to associate with the Kahunui experience. We are proud to have Chris Charteris’s sculptures available to our students and look forward to incorporating this artwork into our Art and Art History programmes in the years to come.

“In our view, Kahunui is a major asset to St Cuthbert’s – it gives the girls an opportunity to learn through different experiences away from everyday distractions like social media and digital devices.” River Stone necklace by Chris Charteris, a beautiful addition to the Atrium

Boarders from ‘83 reunite Eight of the Class of ’83 came from across the North Island to reminisce about the Boarding chapter of our life. We were privileged to have our retreat at the beautiful Red Barn at Lake Kareka. It was perfect for hikers, bikers, fishing, and boating with Whakarewarewa Forest and multiple lakes at our disposal. Here is our reflection. As each traveller arrived the cacophony amplified, visibly startling the deer fenced beside us. By the time Paula Jackson rolled in after a marathon trip from Queenstown via her home in Wellington, it was deafening. Bronwyn Kennaway had turned up first and failed to recognise the next arrival, Sally Ross. There was then a steady “Guess who’s here” for the next few hours – Sally McDougall, Jody O’Sullivan, Catherine Storey, Cathy Carr, and Jane Patterson. We quickly digested whoknew-what, about others in the year, without forgetting to download a staff update. The photo albums were dragged out and memories unlocked. A lot of mysterious blanks were finally filled in with confessions about who did what!

We turned in near midnight the first night and rose to see Paula head off at dawn to keep up training for her ultra-marathons.

Stories of note during our time in Boarding unfolded and included the inevitable terrible food in the dining room (weird trays of food shared among tables), dead ants and the accompanying activities on April Fools’ Day, goings on in the sick-bay with Miss Kyle (toothpaste in the mouth to get the mercury up), antics that would not be regarded as model behaviour – Dilworth discos, ballroom dancing lessons with St Kent’s, movie nights under what is now the Junior Gym, the trauma of the Easter-showman doubleintrusion in Dunblane, the attire for the long march to the Presbyterian church, Sunday outings with day-bugs, as well as, most importantly, the impact certain staff members and peers had on us!

More stories followed, but this time from our recent life. Most involved unfortunate tragedies and events that proceeded to unfold around them. Memorably, when pressed to recount “the weirdest moment” there was a chapter in London where one of the members of the group had worked multiple lengthy medical shifts, headed out to attend to a pressing matter at a bank on the way home, randomly got caught up in a hold-up and when following orders by the thieves to “get-down”, lay as directed on the floor…. and went to sleep for the entire episode!

After a nod to the cooked breakfast, we headed to walk the 5km periphery of the Blue Lake and then admired Cathy, Catherine, Jody, and Jane for wanting to take a plunge. The rest of us preferred the lure of coffee served from the Airstream cart! After a leisurely lunch, we packed up our swimwear and went to see what Rotorua had to offer – the Polynesian Pools! It has been sympathetically revamped, and we were rewarded with heady relaxation and yes, plenty more conversational updates. We had discovered mud face packs in the gift shop so rushed home to plaster ourselves and create a photo montage of “whom-do-you-recognise”.

It was bittersweet to wake up and have to say our goodbyes the next day, but it was wonderful to have caught up and reconnected.

For more stories of Old Girls, go to page 67.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Bringing Joy Through Song Since graduating from the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art with a Bachelor of Performing Arts, Shaan Kloet (née Antunovich) (2007) has had an exciting professional career performing throughout New Zealand.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Shaan’s career highlights have included: Elphaba, the wicked witch of the west, in the North Island premiere of ‘Wicked’, the musical, New Zealand tours of ‘CATS’ as Grizabella in 2011 and Rumpleteaser in 2018 and a New Zealand tour of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. She has been guest artist in Opera North’s ‘Opera in the Garden’ and performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and throughout New Zealand with, One Entertainment – one of New Zealand’s leading entertainment companies. In 2017, Shaan first played the title character in ‘Mary Poppins’, the musical. Stuff Media celebrated Shaan’s amazing performance saying, “Shaan Kloet was perfectly composed and eloquent... She had earlier called Poppins her dream role, and after her performance, she appeared to be a dream casting choice.”

“To have a career in the Arts you need a solid sense of resilience and flexibility”

In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Shaan revisited the role of Mary Poppins, at Auckland’s Civic Theatre. This production of ‘Mary Poppins’ was the biggest stage production to have opened globally since the pandemic. “It was such a surreal feeling – it was a relief that we were able to get the show on the stage after being postponed twice! So much hard work and time goes into a stage production of this size and, to know that we were in the biggest stage production in the world, at the time, was amazing – I had an overall feeling of gratitude,” Shaan says. “To have a career in the Arts you need a solid sense of resilience and flexibility,” Shaan says. “However, the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely increased the need for these skills. I have just tried to stay as positive as possible and tried to take each day as it comes.” Before the cast started their second round of rehearsals, Shaan found out that she was pregnant with her first child. “It was so exciting, but I thought to myself this could be amazing or very average timing.” However, everything was fine and her childto-be enjoyed flying across the Civic stage as much as she did! Although the year has had its challenges, Shaan has been in conversations with a lot of other performers around the world and she has expressed how grateful she is to be in New Zealand. “Our response to the pandemic has been amazing and to be one of the only places in the world to be putting on events and productions is something to be very proud of.” As well as performing, Shaan is the Operations Director in her family business, People Potential Limited. People Potential is a private training provider located across Northland, Auckland, and Hamilton. One of People Potential’s key focus is to enhance the education of every individual with whom the company works and Shaan loves the balance she is able to create with being both in the performing arts industry and the New Zealand education sector. Shaan’s commitment to ‘By Love Serve’ also saw her play a part in the St Cuth’s Together calling campaign in 2020, which connected Old Girls, current students, and community members with our older Old Girls. Shaan says, “I thought it was an awesome initiative. I touched base with a few Old Girls both via online and over the phone. It was a great way to just reach out and connect with people during a time when connection was so important. I had some lovely conversations with like-minded women and it was really enjoyable.”

Mary Poppins photos, LK Creative

Connecting to each other through culture

Every year our girls take part in the vibrant Auckland festival Polyfest and our very special St Cuthbert’s Po Fiafia night, a way for students to connect to their culture, and one another. After two years of disruptions, our girls were so excited to be able to partake in Polyfest. They share with us why the festival is so important to them.

Every year Auckland is blessed with a colourful display of the region’s cultures as traditional music, dance and costumes fill up the Manukau Sports Bowl. This year St Cuthbert’s had 10 amazing groups perform at Polyfest; Kapa haka, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Mongolian, Samoan, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish and Vietnamese. Prior to Polyfest the girls also took part in Po Fiafia, St Cuthbert’s cultural performance evening, an opportunity for students to perform for whanau, friends and the St Cuthbert’s community before hitting the big stage! Cultural Groups Coordinator Issy Coleman says “The vibe is exciting and we are transported to a world of inclusivity, diversity, colour, fun, family, love and no stress.” Issy says being a part of cultural groups is so important to the girls as it gives them an opportunity to share their culture with their peers. “This can be a very proud moment for students who can really shine in their group, yet in everyday school life they might not shine as much. It’s very important for both students and the school, to acknowledge the identity of all students as this helps young people to figure out who they are. Celebrating our different cultures by performance is a positive way to promote our diverse community.” Issy spoke with the girls about the importance of these events for our school.

Q: Why do you think Po Fiafia and Polyfest are such important events for our College to take part in? It’s really interesting to be able to see everyone get together and enjoying each other’s cultures without discrimination. Polyfest is the time where we can showcase our hard work. It is also really amazing to be able to see the work of others and the passion that people have for different cultures. What I love most is when we are right about to go on stage and everyone has these nervous smiles and we’re all just so happy to be able to perform. It is important to me because I get the chance to experience my culture first-hand by watching other groups and performing for the school and people at Polyfest.

Q: How do these events provide an outlet for you to express yourself? The events give me a sense of purpose in terms of being able to show others that I’m representing my culture. Turkish dance isn’t usually how I dance, usually I do hip hop, so it is something different which I think is better so I can learn more about the culture, and it’s unique which I find very interesting.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

I really like Chinese traditional music; it’s very peaceful, elegant and graceful. I love relaxing to the music and then ‘trying’ to dance to it.

Q: Why do you think it’s important to connect with, and express your culture? As we are a multicultural country, especially here in Auckland, it’s important to showcase everyone’s cultures and be proud of who we are and where we come from. I think that is important for me to connect and express my culture because people should learn about other cultures too instead of just theirs. Growing up in an Indian household, I have always been connected to my culture but by participating and leading the Indian dance group, I have been able to express my connection to my culture and show what I have learned from my parents and elders.

Q: How do events like this develop and support your friendships? Having our cultural groups really helps us to break out from our comfort zones. Every year, we meet and make new friends from different year levels. It also allows you all to work together to achieve the best performance we can. So, this means helping each other out if you don’t know the actions or words. Through Tibetan dance, I have been able to connect with people that I don’t usually get to see, being leaders with some of my friends is so amazing because I get to solidify those friendships through leadership and working together.

Q: Why do you think inclusion is so important at our school? To ensure everyone feels like they belong. It makes people feel more welcome and comfortable in a school environment. When someone feels included and accepted they feel more comfortable to be themselves, which is a great thing because it allows people to step out of their comfort zone and get to know new people and create new friendships. There are many different cultures at St Cuthbert’s, and it’s important to make everyone feel safe and proud of who they are - and it brings a sense of interconnection between the different girls and cultures at our College.

Achieving life balance through

Dance

St Cuthbert’s Old Girl Ling Zhang (peer year 2014) has travelled the globe as a professional hip hop dancer, including performing at the 2020 Superbowl with J.Lo!

Ling is currently finishing her degree in Computer Science and Information Systems at Auckland University. She talks to us about how Dance opened a door of incredible life experiences, allowing her to authentically express herself and how important it is to have a balanced life. For Old Girl Ling Zhang, life is all about balance. Ling’s time at St Cuthbert’s was extremely dynamic. During her school hours, she focused on her studies (she got an amazing 44/45 for her IB diploma) and tried a variety of different extracurricular activities, knowing even from an early age it was important to try new things and keep both her logical and creative minds active, in order to be happy. “I feel as humans you are meant to experience everything; it’s important I don’t limit myself and expand in all areas to become a fulfilled person,” she says.

Dance has always been a part of Ling’s life; she studied Ballet diligently for 10 years, as well as Jazz and Contemporary Dance. One day she had an urge to try hip hop, acted spontaneously on that thought and everything changed. It was in that first hip hop class that Ling felt a ‘click’. “People talk about the moment it ‘clicks’ for you. I’d never felt that way before, but as soon as I finished that class I knew this was what I wanted to do. I felt alive and a fire within had been lit.” When Ling left St Cuthbert’s she was accepted into University of Melbourne to study Biomedicine but deferred her place to follow her heart and audition for Parris Goebel’s dance crew ‘Royal Family’. This led her to dance for the likes of Rihanna, J.Lo, Justin Bieber and Ciara, as well as well as travel the world and perform with ‘Royal Family’ on their show tours.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

“Superbowl with J.Lo was amazing. We actually spent two months with her to prepare. She came in everyday to practice and be a part of the creative process. Seeing two powerhouses like J.Lo and Parris work together was so inspiring. They’re both always striving to be better, even at their level, and their energy made you want to be the best version of you.

“To see their growth after connecting with Dance is so amazing – they are more empowered, vibrant and confident. It is so inspiring to see them blossom and shows that you don’t have to be limited by your age. Some people think you have to be born a dancer, but literally everyone can learn. It’s never too late to start.”

I am so incredibly grateful to have experienced what I have and owe it all to my mentors. A special mention to Laura-Beth Warne, Dance teacher at St Cuthbert’s, of course, for being one of the first people to believe in me. I still remember the phone call we had just before graduation where she reminded me to follow my heart and do what I’m passionate about, whatever that might be (though we both knew it was Dance). So, I took a chance, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

Ling can’t rave enough about the benefits of Dance.

Ling spent the first two years after graduation focusing on Dance but wanted to go back to her studies. Her creative side was being fulfilled but her logical brain wanted to be stimulated again. So, she started her degree part time and brought her brain back to balance. In recent years, she also started a Dance Studio with her mum, targeted predominantly at mothers looking to find some time for themselves.

“Dance not only helps with physical wellbeing, such as your flexibility, posture and cardiovascular health, it also allows you to express your day-to-day emotions in a healthy way, and can be very healing. It’s like a meditation for your body and when you get into the flow you are expressing the highest form of yourself. Needless to say, it also boosts your confidence.” Ling attributes her ability to balance both sides of her life to her time at St Cuthbert’s. “The time I spent at St Cuthbert’s was the most important time of my life. I learnt so much, made lifelong friends and developed the strong values I hold in my heart today. I look back now to my IB years, and it is mind blowing how busy we were and the amount we juggled in a day.

But we all did it and learnt how to thrive, even in challenging times. St Cuthbert’s is so great at cultivating good habits and instilling in girls that they can do anything they set their minds to if they work hard for it. ” Ling found there was something for everyone at St Cuthbert’s, and recommends girls give everything a go and follow their curiosity.

“It’s fine if your passion changes or if you don’t know what it is yet. Follow your curiosities, no matter how small, and try them all! Be open to every opportunity that comes your way and you never know when something will click for you.” Ling Zhang

St Cuthbert’s Shakespeare Soirée: lasting friendships formed through shared experiences

In this amazing piece written by Year 13 student and Deputy Head Girl Helena Haldane, we discover why the Shakespeare Soirée is so important to St Cuthbert’s girls.

It is not often that one gets the ability to bring to life the Shakespeare that we learn about in our classrooms. The Shakespeare Soirée is a unique opportunity that has grown to mean so much to St Cuthbert’s students; one that allows girls to express themselves and deepen their dramatic understanding of Shakespeare’s works. My first experience with the Soirée was in Year 11. Being new to the school, I had

forgotten to attend the introduction workshop and desperately asked Ms Waalkens to put me in a scene! Thankfully enough, she did and I have taken part ever since. It is not only the performing that makes this event so special, it is that you work purely with students – they are your fellow actors and directors. This is what I love the most about the Soirée, the friendships that are formed during the process. The Soirée allows girls with differing interests to be involved in drama, lasting friendships are formed through this shared experience - often girls will continue to work with the group they have been in since Year 9, due to how well they work together and the connection that they now share. Girls are given the opportunity to explore themselves as performers, particularly students who may not gravitate towards the Arts subjects. There is no pressure riding on this event so it is a fabulous way for girls to get to know one another and explore their creative side! Working creatively with fellow students is, in my opinion, such an important skill. There is a different type of creative freedom that comes from working with those of a similar age. I know that often the character and self-expression seen throughout the Soirée are incredible and highlights the importance of having students run dramatic opportunities at the College.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

St Cuthbert’s Shakespeare Soirée finale results The below groups were chosen by Lisa Harrow, one of New Zealand’s most successful actors, to represent St Cuthbert’s at the SCGNZ Sheilah Winn Auckland Central Shakespeare festival. ‘Hamlet – Abridged’: Director: Megan Hails, Hamlet – Megan Hails, Ophelia – Rosie Lammiman, Polonius – Helena Haldane, Laertes – Alys Evans. ‘Twelfth Night – Act III, Scene 4’: Self Directed: Malvolio – Rebecca Ross, Olivia – Jessica Went. ‘The Merchant of Venice – Act I, Scene 2’: Self Directed: Nerissa – Cherry Chen, Portia – Cloris Zhang. ‘Henry IV Part 1 – Act I, Scene 2’: Self Directed: Henry, Prince of Wales – Jaclyn Wang, John Falstaff – Tingmeng Wang. ‘Titus Andronicus – Act IV, Scene 2’: Self Directed: Aaron of Moor – Faith Chadha, Nurse – Olivia Smith, Demetrius – Natalia Pretscherer and Chiron – Cate Tipler. ‘Hamlet – Act I, Scene 1’: Self Directed: Marcellus – Ishannita Chaudhuri, Horatio – Evelyn Zhang and Bernardo – Julie Li.

“Working creatively with fellow students is, in my opinion, such an important skill. There is a different type of creative freedom that comes from working with those of a similar age.” Often the five-minute scenes performed are taken from the texts that we have studied in class. When you stand up and perform the text that you have been analysing, stepping into the character that you have been trying to understand, you gain a level of insight into Shakespeare, and the text you have been learning about lifts off the page. Not only does the Soirée give girls performing opportunities but also the ability to celebrate Shakespeare. As we work through the challenge of first understanding the text and then translating it into a performance on stage, the girls are given an understanding of the timelessness of Shakespeare’s analysis of the human condition – something that his works teach us. For me, The Soirée is more than just a performance – it’s a way in which, almost 500 years on, students can continue to bring Shakespeare’s work to life.

‘Henry VIII – Compilation’: Director: Debbie Waalkens, Katherine – Helena Haldane, Ann – Hayley Minturn, Chamberlain – Kate Lin, Henry – Rebecca Ross, Old Lady – Jessica Went, Cardinal Wolsey – Megan Hails, Cardinal Campeius – Frances Melville, Norfolk – Rosie Lammiman, Suffolk – Ruby Whitefoot, Sands – Mia Parker, First Gentleman – Emma Qiu, Second Gentleman – Kaitlin Breed, Ladies – Ava Alpe and Mia Vanderkolk, and Gentleman – Isabella Ross.

SCGNZ Sheilah Winn Auckland Central Shakespeare Festival St Cuthbert’s entered seven scenes and all our girls performed with passion, commitment and with a wonderful understanding of the Shakespeare text, with the following fabulous results. Best student director: Megan Hails. Best 15-minute scene and chosen to represent Auckland Central at the SCGNZ National Shakespeare festival: ‘Hamlet – Abridged’. Most powerful Monologue: Helena Haldane for Katherine in ‘Henry VIII’. Best use of music/ song: ‘Henry VIII – Compilation’.

T R E N Z S E AT E R INTERIOR DESIGN – 36 Aged 3ths mon

AUCKLAND - 80 Parnell Rd, 09 303 4151 CHRISTCHURCH - 121 Blenheim Rd, 03 343 0876 QUEENSTOWN - 313 Hawthorne Dr, 03 441 2363 www.trenzseater.com

WeChat

Free lessons for babies in Term 3

09 520 8272 swimbookings@stcuthberts.school.nz

Year 7–13

Open Day

24 August 2021 9am – 11am Register at: stcuthberts.school.nz

St Cuthbert’s Supporter’s Hoodie! Supporter’s Hoodie available at Black Watch House or online, at stcuthberts.school.nz/uniform You can pay through your school account, or by credit card, and choose whether you ‘click and collect’ from the shop on campus, or have it delivered to your home.

The myths of School Sports Meet our Co-Directors of Sport, Kerry Lancaster and Liz Howard, who with their dedicated team are challenging and changing the myths of school sports.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

With the overarching philosophy of ‘Sports for Life’ the main drive of this team is creating a lifelong love of sport for all the students at St Cuthbert’s. The Sports department are also closely aligned with the Sports NZ philosophy of “balance is better” and Kerry and Liz are focused on providing quality experiences for all of our students. The ethos which underpins the whole team, is that Sports at St Cuthbert’s is about giving every girl the opportunity to be physically active. St Cuthbert’s is lucky to have both Liz and Kerry at the helm but, interestingly, both took a varied and fascinating path to be our Co-Directors of Sports. Liz started at St Cuthbert’s in 2017. Liz has always had a passion for sport and has competed in various codes including Swimming, Triathlon and Trial running. Liz has been lucky enough to compete in Ironman Triathlons in NZ and overseas, including the World Champs in Kona, Hawaii. Her favorite event would have to be the 100km Ultra Trial Australia run in the Blue Mountains. After her completing her Bachelor in Physical Education from Otago, Liz worked as a Rehab Exercise coach at a Children’s Therapy Centre, which she found very rewarding. Liz wanted to further explore her passion for sport and, prior to joining St Cuthbert’s, she worked at other schools in various coaching and administration roles, including Waikato Diocesan, where she was Director of Sport for 4 years, which helped her gain a wealth of experience from which we are now benefitting. Kerry is an Old Girl of St Cuthbert’s who returned to the campus in her current role in 2017. She had previously been a New Zealand Police Sergeant in the challenging fields of Prosecutions and Drugs Crimes. During her time with the New Zealand Police, she received a Commissioners’ Commendation for bravery in the line of duty as well as a rare Gold Award, for saving the life of her partner. We are sure there are many stories Kerry could share with us about her time in her different work groups including the Diplomatic Protection Squad, where she was part of the team responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and family at their private residence but, sadly, she wouldn’t reveal any stories to us! Managing Sport at St Cuthbert’s is an extensive role, with eight members of staff, 32 codes, the Athlete Pathway Programme and more initiatives coming! Kerry and Liz are responsible for overseeing the coaches and managers for all of these codes, the responsibilities of which range from organising trials, designing uniforms, communicating with girls and their parents, liaising with other schools and sporting bodies, and let’s not forget the

LEFT TO RIGHT: Liz Howard and Kerry Lancaster

AIMS games winter and summer tournament weeks and numerous other tournaments. It’s important to the team that all girls are encouraged and supported, whether they are playing socially or at high-performance level. Valuable life-lessons are learned through playing sport especially in the areas of commitment, resilience and teamwork, all of which can transpose into other areas of our students’ lives in the future. As this goes to print, the Sports Department are fully immersed in managing our Winter Codes. We profile some of our codes on the following pages, Rowing, a new sport for our girls, and Netball, a perennial favourite which continues to grow in popularity with over 40 teams across Years 3–13 this year!

• Athletics • Badminton • Basketball • Cricket • Cross Country • Cycling • Diving • Dragon Boating • Equestrian • FlippaBall • Fencing • Football • Futsal • Gym Sports • Golf • Hockey • Lacrosse

• Multi Sports • Netball • Orienteering • Rock Climbing • Rowing • Skiing • Squash • Surfing • Swimming • Table Tennis • Tennis • Touch Rugby • Tramping • Volleyball • Water Polo • Yachting

With 33 Sports Codes (and growing) there is something for every St Cuthbert’s student which will get her on the ‘Sport for Life’ journey:

Our first season of Rowing

2020/21 has been our first season of Rowing at St Cuthbert’s and naturally a learning year. 18 students have thrown themselves whole-heartedly into this compelling sport and have utterly enjoyed it.

The Rowing programme is on offer from Years 9 – 13 and the girls train together but are placed in a range of boats ranging across eights, quads and doubles. As our 18 new rowers embarked on their first year as the St Cuthbert’s Rowing Squad, they have had to adapt to ups and downs both on the water and off due to COVID-19 disruptions, but this never dampened their team spirit.

Rowing is led by our wonderful Year 13 House Leader, Nieve Campbell (above), who has been instrumental in bringing her passion for this sport to St Cuthbert’s. Nieve herself took part in the Head of Harbour Regatta, placing 4th. Liz Howard heads up Rowing and says “We are very fortunate to have some exceptional coaches helping us out, as well as a fantastic and passionate group of parents which has been supporting the girls, and our school, in this exciting new endeavour”. In their first year of Rowing, our girls have taken part in Club level competitions over the Summer as part of the Waitemata Rowing Club. The season included an opportunity for our girls to race in their St Cuthbert’s colours at the AON Junior Regatta as well as the famed week-long Maadi Cup Regatta, held in Lake Karapiro, Cambridge. At the Maadi Cup Nieve Campbell came 5th in her Final for the U18 single event and our U18 Novice coxed 4 came 3rd in their Final. The team included Pippa Dixon, Katya De Silva, Eden Dwight, Dian Kun Yin and the Cox – Charlotte Ng Waishing. The girls have really enjoyed this premier season and the Sports Deparment is already receiving strong interest in the next, which will kick off with a ‘Learn to Row’ Programme available for Year 9 in Term 3.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Netball: St Cuthbert’s Team of 550 Simply put, Netball is amazing! It improves hand-eye co-ordination, builds up stamina and muscle strength, improves the cardiovascular system, aids flexibility and develops depth perception. It’s a great activity for mastering resilience and is fantastic for honing skills related to working in a team environment. Netball is strongly supported at St Cuthbert’s for these reasons and more. Starting as young as Year 3, the Sports Department ensures that the code is offered to each year at a ‘just right’ level so that skill development can be enhanced, year on year, appropriate to the age and developmental-stage of our girls. The focus of the Sports Department at Years 3 and 4 is to ensure girls have fun, introducing basic skills. We see the passion for Netball really kick in at Years 5 and 6 when girls enjoy the thrill of being part of a team working to a common (Netball) goal. The format of the game changes considerably in Year 7 and so we offer a special transition to the seven-a-side game during lunchtimes in Term 1. From Years 7 – 13 it is game on!

Our team of 550 St Cuthbert’s Netball has up to 550 individuals involved in the code across the school – 40 teams each with 10 –12 players, 14 paid coaches, 28 student coaches, external coaches, many umpires, plus Emma James, our dedicated Premier Team coach; all overseen by Kerry Lancaster our Co-Director of Sport. Netball is a year-round sport at St Cuthbert’s with skills being built upon in Terms 1 and 4 so girls are on their best form by the competition season in Terms 2 and 3, all played at Auckland Netball Centre in St John’s. Tailored to the age and capability of each team we offer our Netball players pre-season fitness session during lunch breaks, after school and at weekends. This year the students who are championing this code are our Premier Team Co-Captains Year 13 student Rebecca Fala, and Tiaare Ahovelo from Year 12 and they are really excited about starting the competition season!

A code for all Kerry tells us, “one of the features of the St Cuthbert’s Netball programme we are proud of is the fact that whilst we have girls looking up to, and aspiring to be in, our Premier team, we also have teams ranging across age grades for all abilities. It’s a community opportunity as well; for example, we have a team made up of our

International Students, who in many cases, are experiencing Netball for the first time.”

Two students who graduated from St Cuthbert’s

Playing, coaching and umpiring

Bellingham and Anna Hill, are now both back in

Kerry is rightly proud that St Cuthbert’s is in the very top Premier Netball grade in Auckland (one of the strongest in NZ) but, for her, an even more important feature is the involvement of students as umpires as well as the development of student as coaches who work with younger year groups to offer ongoing training as well as mentoring. “Even if a student doesn’t go on to be a “top” player we see many of our students going on to be umpires and coaches at all levels of the game. We have Old Girls who come back to coach year after year and are thrilled with this outcome as we spend a lot of time investing in all aspects of Netball, not just playing”. “We’ve assisted many students to come up through the system and it’s fantastic to see Year 13 girls becoming Premier Grade Umpires – covering both Club Netball and School Netball at the Premier level”.

last year, and are now at university, Crystal their free time to assist Kerry in running the trials and both have done so for the last three years at the school. Kerry also cites the successes of recent Old Girl, Ofa Vatikani, now at The University of Victoria in Wellington; Ofa has made the Beko team in Wellington, which is part of the National Netball League squad. We use a number of highly qualified coaches to help inspire our teams and grow their skill sets. The Northern Mystics run a development group for our Premier Team in Terms 1 and 2; Northern Stars assist the Premier Team and pictured here, are our girls training under the guidance of current Silver Fern, Gina Crampton, who ran an inspiring skills programme available from Year 5 to 8. Gina also works with our Premier Team and wider development group throughout the season.

Spotlight on Junior School Sport and PE We were blessed with fine weather for nearly all of our first term and we strived to help our Junior girls make the most of the fresh air, expanding their fine and gross motor skills and learning important team skills.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

We first taught them the importance of sun protection, ensuring they adopted the key practices of ‘slip, slap, slop’ into the playground as well at breaktimes. In Term 1, Des Knight and Jade Lake, our dedicated Junior School Physical Education teachers, led a skills blitz with Years 1 – 3 focusing on ball skills, in particular catching and throwing. They encouraged our girls to work on tracking the ball and bringing their hands together to form a good target before the ball arrives! It was fantastic to see our littlest girls improving their skills, as they scaled up practising progressively with bean bags, soft foam animals, spikey balls and finally tennis balls…. we think we see future White Fern players in this cohort! Meantime, Years 4 – 6 were learning to play Touch Rugby. Touch, as it is fondly known in New Zealand, is a great team sport and ‘By Love Serve’ too, in its own little way as it promotes honesty in players; if a player is ‘tagged’ they need to admit to it to other players, then the game proceeds to the next round. It suits our Years 4 – 6 as well, who are starting to grow in strength and this game helps boost both bone and muscle strength. Mr Knight and Ms Lake spend a lot of time in PE lessons guiding the students on how to relate to others, how to cooperate with peers, develop conflict resolution skills and show respect to others. The skills of coordination and team work were developed by group practice of catching and passing skills in class and they have been improving their ‘game sense’ by learning the rules for Touch and then applying them in game situations. Years 4 – 6 put a lot of preparation into their swimming in advance of their Swimming Sports event. It was fantastic to see so many of our girls showing House spirit and trying so many swim events.

Junior School Swimming Sports Champions Year 6 Swimming Champions 1st Sophie Qu 6PIN 2nd Teresa Sun 6PIN 3rd Amy Tang 6IRE Year 5 Swimming Champions 1st Hope Wang 5BLN 2nd Jessica Yeoman 5BLN 3rd = Lucia Yoon 5BLN and Olivia Lambie 5HAD Year 4 Swimming Champions 1st Talitha Mitchell 4MAA 2nd Harriet Glenie 4KNI 3rd Lyndsey Ma 4KNI

Spotlight on Senior School Sport New Zealand Track and Field Championships Some of our amazing athletes went on to compete at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships in March. Congratulations to: Bella Browne: 1st place in the U20 Women’s 1500m and 3rd place in the U20 Women’s 5000m. Chloe Browne: 2nd place in the U20 Women’s 5000m. Isabel Allen: 2nd in the U20 Women’s 4x100m Relay team and 2nd in the U20 Women’s 4x400m Relay team.

College Sport Auckland Champ of Champs Athletics We achieved fantastic results at this event across all age groups, especially in our longdistance events. Grace Meredith: 2nd Junior Girls 3000m. Zara Ford: 2nd Junior Girls 300m and 2nd Junior Girls 800m. Sophie Robb: 1st Intermediate Girls 3000m. Charlotte Goldsmith: 1st Intermediate Girls Long Jump, 1st Intermediate Girls Triple Jump and 2nd Intermediate Girls 100m. Olivia Power: 3rd Intermediate Girls Long Jump. Isabella Richardson: 3rd Senior Girls 3000m. Bella Browne: 2nd Senior Girls 3000m and 2nd Senior Girls Steeplechase. Chloe Browne: 1st Senior Girls 3000m and 1st Senior Girls Steeplechase Isabel Allen: 2nd Senior Girls 400m and 3rd Senior Girls 200m. 4x100m Senior Relay: 1st place: Isabel Allen, Olivia Power, Arki Hunter and Charlotte Goldsmith. RECORD BROKEN (3:58.98): 4x400m Open Relay: Zara Ford, Bella Browne, Chloe Browne and Isabel Allen.

Athletics

Football

The Years 9 –13 Athletics Day was an amazing way to kick-off the year’s events, full of House colour and spirit. We felt very extremely proud to see our girls putting their all into each event, with huge smiles on their faces as their Houses cheered them on.

Congratulations to our talented footballers Ruby Luxton and Luci Hollister who were both selected for the Auckland Regional Under 17 Training squad. These intensive training sessions are ideal preparation for their ambitions to make the future New Zealand Under 17 squad later this year.

Congratulations to all our girls for taking part in this day, with a special mention to the following girls who placed so well. Junior Champions 1st: Francesca Wright 2nd: Zara Ford and Grace Meredith 3rd: Ariki Hunter Intermediate Champions 1st: Charlotte Goldsmith 2nd: Sophie Robb 3rd=: Lily Allen and Emison Styris Senior Champions 1st: Isabel Allen 2nd: Chloe Brown 3rd: Isabella Richardson House Points 1st: Iona 2nd: Dunblane 3rd: Elgin

Lacrosse Grace McCarthy made the Auckland U18 team this year and represented Auckland at the New Zealand Lacrosse Nationals in Hamilton. Auckland lost the final to Waikato, winning silver, and Grace was picked in the Tournament Team as a great defensive player two medals in one weekend!

Multisport 11 girls competed at the Auckland Triathlon Championships in March. Our congratulations to Samantha Bradley who secured 1st place in the Under 14 Girls Individual, and to Ines Grayston, Zari Lindsay and Zara Scott who placed 1st in the Junior Under 14 Girls Team event.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Orienteering We had exceptional results at the Central Zones Orienteering with 42 students making up seven relay teams. St Cuthbert’s won both the Year 7 and Year 8 grades, and seven students won their Relay leg with the fastest times. St Cuthbert’s had 20 girls make the AKSS Sprint Finals for Orienteering this year. 10 students made the Top 10 in their grade from the morning racing. In the afternoon they featured in the showcase ‘Chasing Start’ where the Top 10 in each grade from the morning started last in reverse order 10 – 1. Year 9 Race 2nd: Alicia Wu Year 8 Race 1st: Zara Toes 2nd: Georgina McGregor-Macdonald Year 7 Race 3rd: Abby Liu Zara Stewart has been selected for the New Zealand Junior World Orienteering Team 2021. Due to COVID-19 the New Zealand team will not travel this year, nevertheless, Congratulations Zara. We are excited for you and hope the world will return to normal soon for you to enjoy representing New Zealand.

Swimming St Cuthbert’s Years 7 and 8 Swimming Sports Day. The St Cuthbert’s Aquatic Centre was filled with our vibrant House colours and the echoes of chants. Thank you to those families who came along to take part in our fun day. Year 7 Swimming Champions 1st: Jackie Xu 2nd: Jessica Wang 3rd: Grace Wills

Year 8 Swimming Champions 1st: Isabella Lambie 2nd: Sophie Yeoman 3rd: Scarlett Robb and Emily Martin.

College Sport Auckland Secondary

Year 7 and 8 Interzone Swimming Championships This championship is for top swimmers from across Auckland with some great team and individual results. Zoe Knight, Scarlett Robb, Sophie Yeoman and Isabella Lambie won the Year 8 Girls 4x50m Relay. Isabella Lambie: 2nd place Year 8 50m Freestyle, 2nd place Year 8 50m Backstroke and 3rd place Year 8, 100m Freestyle.

relay team won the Intermediate Girls 200m

Years 9 – 13 Swimming Sports Day We were so proud of our girls’ adaptability when they dived straight back into House Sports just one day after the February lockdown. The competition was strong, with some amazing races, made even better by the way the girls supported and encouraged one another. The following girls are the St Cuthbert’s 2020 Swim champions. Junior Champions 1st: Elisha Lam 2nd: Mia Kelliher 3rd: Daniella van Delden Intermediate Champions 1st: Hannah Piper 2nd: Islay Boyes 3rd: Erika Patterson Senior Champions 1st: Hannah Milne 2nd: Amelia Wilby 3rd: Ella Palmer House Points 1st: Melrose 2nd: Elgin 3rd: York

Schools Swimming Championships Erika Paterson placed 4th in the 14 – 15 years age group 50m Breaststroke, and our Breaststroke relay. Congratulations to the team: Kayla Gaskill, Caitlyn Gjelstad, Emison Styris and Erika Paterson.

Tennis A special mention to Renee Zhang who won both the National Under 14 and Under 16 Singles titles during the Summer holiday break. Also, at the Under 14s, Xin-Xin Zhu placed runner up in the Girls Doubles while Mala Krzanic Sullivan gained 2nd place in the Mixed Doubles. Mei Ling Joensen-Lee and Mala Krzanic-Sullivan also placed 2nd in the NZ Secondary Schools’ Girls Tennis Cup.

Water Polo Our Premier training squad began the season with a training trip to Mount Maunganui where they balanced conditioning and training sessions with other cross training activities such as ocean swimming and surf lifesaving. The season highlight was when they took home bronze at the North Island Secondary School Champs in Wellington, a huge achievement! Congratulations to the team members, Tiaare Ahovelo, Maddie Barrett, Amelia Wilby, Ella Palmer, Holly Macdonald, Emison Styris, Bianca Pennington, Jessie Malcolm, Rose Aleksich, Holly Dunn, Georgia Foley, Briar Ellyett and Hannah Milne.

CONNECTING WOMEN WORLDWIDE

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

The Old Girls have much to celebrate in this issue of Evergreen Ties. Whilst we haven’t been able to see each other on a large scale face to face basis, we have been keeping in touch. We have received a huge range of updates from Old Girls, some of which we share in this issue. From a mother of four, to dancers and scientists. All are fascinating stories from our exceptional Old Girls’ community. Personally, I found Shaan Kloet’s (peer year 2007) performance as Mary Poppins stunning and the fact that she did this whilst helping Old Girls in 2020, inspirational. Welcome back to the school, past pupils, who now have their own daughters at St Cuthbert’s. It is exciting to welcome you back to the College as new mums. We have loved hearing stories of how well your girls are settling, and we know they are making friends for life, just as us committee members did. We are looking forward to meeting you at the Old Girls’ ‘new mums’ event in June. In this section, we also hear from Old Girls who have gone on to follow many different paths, including a designer, a screenwriter, an educationalist and a retired teacher and grandmother. Please do share your news with us, whatever your story, and wherever in your life you are. We really enjoy hearing from you and keeping connected as a community. You can do this through emailing alumnae@ stcuthberts.school.nz and completing the online form in the Old Girls’ section of the school website. You will notice the Old Girls’ section of the St Cuthbert’s website changing and improving over time as we add in more content about what our Old Girls are up to as well as the usual events - highlights of past ones and information for upcoming ones. Thank you to Stephanie Peploe and Penelope Peebles who have been instrumental in getting the website to where it is today. Stephanie will continue to develop it along with Eleanor Gregan and other members of the committee, along with our wonderful Communications and Development teams. The Old Girls’ Association held their second AGM online in March. This year we also held our first ever online chapel service immediately after the service. Thank you to Reverend Dr François Joubert for putting the Chapel Service together and to Saints Alive for the choir pieces that we also sang along to. Those that tuned

in came from the USA, Europe, Thailand and many other places. Of course, most of the viewers were from New Zealand and I loved receiving your messages during the AGM and via email afterwards. All things going well, we hope to be able to meet for the chapel service and AGM in person next year and will continue to stream it to our international Old Girls’ community. Thank you to our Principal and Patron of the Old Girls’ Association Justine Mahon, the IT Department and the Development Office for ensuring that the AGM has been able to continue over the last two years. A key focus for the Old Girls in 2021 is to initiate events again. Thank you to Old Girls’ Association Committee member Kirsten McKenzie (1992) for supporting us with a sensational piece on our Old Girl writers. We very much enjoyed Kirsten’s Old Girls’ literary event on Thursday 3 June (see page 70). I’d also like to thank our Old Girl contributors who wrote stories for this edition including Hannah Luxton (2004), who has written an incredible piece on raising four boys, including twins, and our Boarders Class of 83 for their very entertaining piece on their self-organised reunion. This trip looks like it was filled with so much fun and laughter. Congratulations to our successful Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant applicant, Melody Yunjeong Kim (2015). We had many worthy Old Girl applicants and we’re proud of all you are accomplishing. Melody has successfully

been accepted to the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programme at the University of Auckland, which offers up to eleven places annually. Melody’s goal is to become a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescent and youth mental health and trauma. We feel very lucky to be able to support her on her learning journey and her deep commitment to ‘By Love Serve’ will continue to shape her life. You can get to know Melody on page 75. The committee and I are looking forward to seeing many of you at Old Girls’ upcoming events. Some highlights are the Literary Evening, Bridge Day, Orsini’s Italian Ladies Lunch and Club 50. Thank you for everyone’s support of our virtual events so far this year, in particular of our AGM. Please keep an eye on our website for more information as we confirm dates and locations of upcoming events. For those planning a special occasion, please consider our gorgeous Old Girls’ Chapel for your next special occasion. You can read more about how to book the Chapel on page 72. Finally, a special welcome to our newest Old Girls, our Class of 2020. We hope you enjoy the photos of your Graduation Ball on page 76. We had such a lovely night celebrating with you, and can’t wait to see what you do next – you are a truly inspiring group of girls. Kind regards Georgina Gilbert-Robertson — President, Old Girls’ Association

Hannah Luxton (née Shieff, 2004)

reflects on creating her own wonderful tribe Gosh, are they ALL yours? Were they planned? Did you mean to have them so close together? Will you try for a girl next? Common concerns from none other than passers-by as I get my tribe from A to B each day. Thankfully, I have learned not to take these comments to heart and laugh them off as I really do love my busy little life, or what I have left of it.

My journey into parenthood began when I fell pregnant with our first son Ed five years ago. Dave and I had a lovely social life, which included holidays and the freedom to do almost anything we desired at any given time – Ed just came along for the ride and slotted in perfectly. We were very comfortable with having just one son, but we wanted to give him a sibling. Aston was born two years later, and this is when I resigned from my position at Britomart Group working in the marketing team as a Senior Creative, a job I loved but I knew I wanted to be home with my boys while they were young. My husband Dave and I both come from families with three children so naturally we thought we would try for one more baby. Two years later (much to our surprise) we welcomed fraternal twin boys, Louis and Oliver.

For the first year, we couldn’t have survived without our gorgeous nanny, Kristin. Dave was in a demanding job developing the Commercial Bay tower and I needed support at home to get through my very own tower of washing. Allowing someone to help me with the physical load also aided my mental load. I thought Kristin was there to help with the boys and the housework, but she was really there to support me at a time when I was pretty fragile and finding my feet again. I had lost sight of who I was and what I wanted. Accepting help really gave me a lifeline. After a year of much needed help, we were ready to try this parenting gig on our own. To others it may sound like a lot, but we have our little groove and although the days are long, the washing is endless, and the mess around the house is extensive, we love our energetic boys and we know how lucky we are to have all of them.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

News of Old Girls

Join us at an upcoming event We greatly appreciate it when the Old Girls come together to support these events. Many are fundraising initiatives put on by the Committee members that enable us to fund scholarships to the School. Without your involvement, we would not be able to give the gift of a St Cuthbert’s education to so many grateful girls. (Plus you’re guaranteed to have fun as you reacquaint yourself with past pupils and the School).

Belinda Henley (née Goatcher) (1992)

Deirdre-Anne Hiller (née Bates) (1974)

Journalist and producer

Retired teacher, outdoor enthusiast and grandma

Belinda Henley graduated with a postgraduate diploma in Journalism from the University of Canterbury. Almost immediately, she took up a role as a reporter with TV3 news, a role which took her around the world working for its flagship news and current affairs shows. She relocated to London where she worked for broadcasters including the BBC, CNN, and Reuters. She also spent two years living in Los Angeles working for Reuters and as a Foreign Correspondent for TV3, where she carved out a niche for herself covering the large entertainment events including the Oscars, Golden Globes, and Grammy Awards, as well as film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Doha.

For the last 35 years, Deirdre has been living near Munich, Germany. Recently she retired from teaching Mathematics at a German secondary school, however, Deirdre does continue to offer private tuition. Deirdre, along with husband Konrad, are active mountain bikers and skiers. She says she feels lucky to still be able to enjoy running, swimming and tramping. Both of Deirdre’s two daughters spent Year 13 at St Cuthbert’s, and last year Deirdre was delighted at the arrival of her first grandchild, a girl.

Please check your Old Girls’ website: oldgirls.stcuthberts. school.nz/regular-events/ for the most up-to-date information and dates. Monday 14 June, 2021 Coffee and Dessert Evening for Old Girls who were new parents to the school at the start of 2020 and 2021 7.00pm to 8.30pm, at the Old Girl Association President’s home.

Thursday 24 June, 2021 Bridge/Mahjong/500 Day 9.30am–2.00pm, Auckland Bridge Club, Remuera.

Monday 5 July, 2021 Making Their Mark 10.00am, Livestreamed from Senior School Assembly.

Thursday 19 August, 2021 Club 50 Morning Tea Time 10.30am, Melrose Lounge, St Cuthbert’s.

Saturday 11 September, 2021 Bay of Plenty AGM and Luncheon

She returned to London for a three-year stint at Al Jazeera before returning home to produce ‘60 Minutes’ at its new home on Prime TV. Most recently she was head of video content for NZME where she made a documentary on the music festival Rhythm and Vines called ‘The Road to Rhythm’.

Friday 10 December, 2021

Belinda currently lives between Hawke’s Bay and Auckland and has her own company www.thestoryconz.com, specialising in creating creative and engaging video content for businesses, brands and individuals as well as offering media training.

2021. Date TBC.

Year 13 Graduation Ball Hosted by the Old Girls’ Association Committee. 6.00pm, Ellerslie Event Centre.

Old Girls’ Association Orsini Italian Luncheon

News of Old Girls

Lisa Ladd-Kidder (Kathy Ladd) (1961)

Katy Liao (1998)

Educationalist and environmental steward

A designer of joy

Receiving a scholarship to attend St Cuthbert’s for eight months as an exchange student was a life-changing experience for Kathy. She had previously been at co-ed southern schools in the United States throughout the 1950s, where she felt she received little support for her learning and academic growth. On the other hand, at St Cuthbert’s, Kathy was expected to learn, was supported in the learning process, and enjoyed the fellowship of her classmates. Kathy says she thrived in such an exciting environment.

Katy Liao aspires to make the world a happy place through good design and art.

After completing her university degrees and passing her state license examinations as a psychologist, Kathy then worked as a faculty member of Kutztown University. She served her campus for an impressive 32 years as a psychological counsellor, an academic advisor, a student advocate, and a member of the Faculty Senate. In 1996, Kathy travelled to Sydney to give a professional paper at a conference, and was excited to have the chance to take a week off to return to Auckland and visit St Cuthbert’s, her school friends, and the Mackney family – her host family while in New Zealand. Since Kathy’s retirement from the university, life hasn’t exactly slowed down! She is now more involved in local environmental and community issues, including serving on the Kutztown Borough Planning Commission

for the last thirteen years, and chairing the commission for the last four years. In 2018, Kathy was awarded the Environmental Stewardship Award by her community, in recognition of her ongoing work as an environmental advocate, specifically highlighting her work to protect the quality of drinking water from the local aquifer. As a proud Old Girl, Kathy remains grateful to St Cuthbert’s, both staff and students, for her life-changing experience. ‘By Love Serve’ continues to be a touchstone for decisions in her life. We do hope to be able to have you back in Auckland sometime soon, Kathy.

After leaving New Zealand and St Cuthbert’s in the middle of Form 5 in 1996, Katy travelled to the Bay Area in California to finish high school and later obtained her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Currently, she is working at the Taipei Youth Program Association (TYPA), a non-profit organization in the Taipei American School, as the Creative Director. She is also a Fashion Design instructor, inspiring young girls to explore their creativity, find their passion, and pursue their dreams. In her own time, Katy likes to draw rabbits with strawberries. She is known as the Crazy Bunny Teacher among the kids.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Polina Zaytseva (2009)

Raiha Buchanan (2002)

Simone Nathan (2009)

Cardiovascular tissue engineer

Financial technology

Screenwriter

Polina went on to study Biology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, followed by an MSc in Biotechnology in Mannheim, Germany. She completed her MSc thesis in Professor Andreas Plückthun’s group at the University of Zürich, Switzerland, where she worked on optimizing adenoviral retargeting and shielding for targeted gene therapy. Polina fell in love with Zürich, and being close to the Alps, and decided to stay for her doctoral degree.

Raiha moved to Sweden in 2007 and has spent the last ten years of her career within fintech (financial technology), holding executive positions in some of Europe’s most successful fintech companies. In 2019, she decided to start her own fintech, Gigapay, a salary payment infrastructure for the gig economy. It’s been growing at a tremendous pace and has started to expand across the other Nordic countries.

Simone Nathan currently lives and writes in New York as a staff writer on the upcoming HBO Max series ‘Our Flag Means Death’, produced by Taika Waititi. Prior to this, Simone was in the writers’ room on an upcoming FX show about the Six-Day War, show run by Todd Kessler (‘Damages’, ‘Sopranos’).

She is now in the second year of study. Her research focuses on the development of tissue engineered cardiovascular implants, which unlike the currently available prostheses will be able to grow and remodel – an aspect particularly beneficial for children with congenital heart defects. Fascinating and life-changing work, Polina. We can’t wait to see where your studies take you next.

Raiha has also started WIFTN, a nonprofit network for women in fintech. Raiha started this as she saw a lack of female role models within the sector and wanted to help empower women to create change within the industry. Raiha has been recognized internationally for her work and leadership, having received numerous awards, including being listed as one of Sweden’s top future female leaders. As a St Cuthbert’s Old Girl, she encourages more women to pursue a STEM education and to help support other women within the field. Really inspiring work, Raiha – we love your focus on empowering women.

Simone was a Nickelodeon Writing Program Fellow and has worked as a Writer’s Assistant on the Netflix show ‘Bloodline’ and on Comedy Central’s ‘Inside Amy Schumer’. Simone received her MFA from the Graduate Dramatic Writing program at Tisch, where she was awarded NYU’s Venable Herndon Award for Excellence in Screenwriting.

Do you have news to share? Send your news to alumnae@stcuthberts.school.nz. We love featuring the stories of Old Girls: snapshots of overseas adventures, notable achievements, additions to your family, reminiscences of school and more! Go online to the Old Girls’ Association website to submit your profile. We love hearing all news. oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/ submit-your-profile/

Old Girl Authors Christmas carols, near-death experiences, haunted houses, bilingual works, Pōhutukawa Babies, sibling rivalry, the Jewish community, and a girl in a mirror are just some of the subjects covered in books written by St Cuthbert’s Old Girls.

BELOW: Caroline Barron

BELOW: Kirsten McKenzie

Some names you may not be familiar with, whilst others are far more recognisable, but these successful authors all have one thing in common, their schooling. St Cuthbert’s has produced more than its fair share of authors, playwrights, and screenwriters. As well as a number of Sunday Star Times Short-Story Award winners, there are also recipients of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults, LIANZA Awards, and the Margaret Mahy Medal. Certainly too many to profile in this one article. Ann Gluckman (née Klippell) is now in her nineties, but that didn’t stop her publishing her third book documenting the Auckland Jewish community at the age of 92 — ‘Identity and Involvement: Auckland Jewry Past and Present’. Ann, a former Weekly contributor and travel writer, describes the three volumes of her work as “a celebration of the many and varied achievements this community has accomplished.” Although she was only a student at St Cuthbert’s for a short time, she later returned as a teacher, and now has a granddaughter at the school. Her books are held in the Frances Compton Library archives. Twins have always roamed the halls of St Cuthbert’s, but hopefully not the sort featured in Rose Carlyle’s runaway success, ‘The Girl in the Mirror’. Published by Allen and Unwin in 2020, Rose has already signed a major Hollywood movie deal for her debut thriller. After leaving school, Rose went on to become a lawyer, working with some of Auckland’s top legal firms. ‘The Girl in the Mirror’ is available in the Frances Compton Library. A contemporary of Rose’s is Renee Liang, whose Wikipedia entry reads like a comprehensive shopping list of achievements of a dozen people, yet they barely cover Renee’s many, many achievements. Dr. Renee Wen-Wei Liang MNZM was awarded the Royal Society Manhire Prize in Science Writing for Creative Non-Fiction in 2012 for her work ‘Epigenetics: navigating our inner seas’. She has also penned ‘Dominion Road The Musical’, a number of poetry books, with her play ‘The Quiet Room’ shortlisted for the Adam Play Award in 2013. ‘The Quiet Room’ went on to win the teen section of Playmarket’s Plays for the Young in 2014, and the SWANZ award for Best Play in 2016. Renee is featured in the book ‘Womankind: New Zealand Women Making a Difference’ by Margie Thomson and Simon Young, a copy of which is in the Frances Compton Library.

Current Old Girls’ Association Committee member Kirsten McKenzie has published six novels, with her time travel trilogy acquired by Podium Audio in 2020. Her work regularly appears in the top of the Amazon bestseller charts, with her paranormal thrillers ‘Painted’ and ‘Doctor Perry’ both reaching #1 in the Canadian and Australian horror charts, and #2 in the United Kingdom. In 2020, her short story ‘Paperwork’ appeared in the NHS fundraising anthology Noir ‘From The Bar’, together with stories by some of the UK’s finest crime writers. The 2016 recipient of the Old Girls’ Association ‘Making Their Mark’ award is former BBC employee Julie Thomas, author of the historical novels centred around the fictional Horowitz family in WWII. All four of Julie’s books have topped the Nielson Bestsellers List. It’s a big step from running a successful talent and model agency to winning the New Zealand Heritage Literary Award for Non-fiction, but that’s exactly what Caroline Barron achieved in 2020 for her book ‘Ripiro Beach’. ‘Ripiro Beach’ is Caroline’s heart-rending personal journey as she navigates the question of whether DNA writes our destinies, or whether nurture triumphs over nature? What is it that determines who we really are? Success for our Old Girl authors isn’t solely limited to those with plenty of life experience… in 2018, Cybella Maffitt was awarded a place in the New Zealand Society of Authors’ Youth Mentorship programme. Her short stories placed 2nd and 3rd in the 2019 National Flash Fiction Day youth section competition. This article is clearly not a definitive essay about all of our amazing Old Girl authors – we’d need a whole issue for that. If we had the space we’d detail the cozy crime novels by Brisbanebased Emma Louise Hambling, the incredible plays by Roseanne Liang, and the important work done by Claire Bruell for the Auckland Maon Trust and her ongoing research and writing about European Jewish heritage. We are immensely proud of the commitment of our Old Girl authors to New Zealand’s literary landscape. Credit must be given to the amazing St Cuthbert’s teachers and librarians, both past and present, for their endless encouragement and support. It is with this backbone behind them that our students have done so well on the national and international stage.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

ABOVE: Julie Thomas

ABOVE: Renee Liang

ABOVE: Rose Carlyle

Special Mention

Remembering our Old Girl Authors

“Not on a snowy night, by star or candlelight, nor by an angel band, there came to our dear land…” is the beginning of the beloved Christmas carol ‘Te Harinui (Great Joy)’ by Katherine Faith ‘Willow’ Macky QSM (1921– 2006). If you’ve attended the College’s annual Carol Service, you would have heard Willow’s song performed by girls wearing the same uniform she herself wore. Books containing Macky’s poetry and songs are available in the Frances Compton Library. Published after her death in 2006, her poetry describes her grief for the love denied to her by society when she was younger.

Our most prolific Old Girl Author is undoubtedly Pamela Kay Allen MNZM (née Griffiths). Pamela has published over 50 children’s books since 1980, and sales of her books have now exceeded five million copies, with eight of her books adapted for the Sydney Opera House stage. Pamela was awarded the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2005, New Zealand’s top children’s literature prize. And we recognise the incredible St Cuthbert’s Old Girl Diane Levy, author of the bestselling books ‘Of Course I Love You . . . Now Go To Your Room!’; ‘They Look So Lovely When They’re Asleep’; and ‘Time Out for Tots, Teens and Everyone In Between’. Diane regularly writes for a number of New Zealand publications and The Parenting Place. Our Old Girl authors haven’t just created work for adult readers. New Zealand’s bookshelves are peppered with children’s books penned by St Cuthbert’s alumni, including the delightful ‘Hollie Chips’ by Anna Gowan. Focussing on the past is how Julie Kennedy published her comprehensive work on Katherine Mansfield — ‘Katherine Mansfield in Picton,’ which includes previously unpublished material and extensive quotes from Mansfield and her relatives, and traces the links Mansfield and her family had with the Sounds. This is also available in the Frances Compton Library. Former St Cuthbert’s students Sophie van Waardenberg and Amelia Kendall were both recognised in the inaugural Chris Cole Catley Writing Awards in 2014. Students Emily Clarke, Tara Bartlett, Natasha Vink, Bailey Henderson and Samantha Williams were the five ‘editor’s choice’ winners in the 2011 College Herald awards, run by the New Zealand Herald. The National Schools’ Poetry Award for 2011 went to student Eden Tautali for her poem ‘Nan’, addressing the death of her Nan and the experience of speaking at her funeral. Recent graduate Joy Tong was the 2019 winner of the secondary school category of the Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition with her “beautifully crafted” tale of love.

Florence Gertrude James (1902–1993) was a literary agent, editor, writer, and peace activist, who once spent a month locked up for her participation in an anti-nuclear weapons demonstration. Pieces of Florence’s work were published in the school magazine prior to her graduation in 1919, and her work as an editor and literary agent contributed to the success of a number of well-known New Zealand and Australian authors, including Maurice Shadbolt CBE. Together with a university friend, Florence penned ‘Come in Spinner’. Although it won the 1946 Daily Telegraph novel competition, it wasn’t published due to concerns about breaches of obscenity. It was finally published in 1951, with an initial print run of 24,000 for the first edition, and a further four reprints required in the first year. In 2015, ‘The Adventures of Hutu and Kawa’, a bestselling classic children’s book from the 1950s by Avis Acres (1910-1994), was reissued by Penguin Books. Acres penned three books featuring the adventures of the Pōhutukawa Babies, stories that first appeared in the pages of the New Zealand Herald. Thyra Avis Mary Acres (née McNeill), first attended St Cuthbert’s in 1915, where she enjoyed English and Art. It is somewhat poignant that her books were republished 100 years after she started her schooling. Her work embodies the school’s motto of ‘By Love Serve’ as she spent her life documenting New Zealand’s flora and fauna, and warning of the dangers of introduced species to New Zealand’s native wildlife.

Margaret Rose Orbell CNZM (1935–2006) was instrumental in bringing Māori literary works to a wider and international audience. During her career, Orbell wrote several books on Māori literature and culture, and edited numerous collections of songs, poetry and stories. As the editor of bilingual quarterly ‘Te Ao Hou / The New World’, Margaret ensured more literary content was included in the journal, and increased the number of translations of historical Māori texts. Her 1970 anthology put several significant New Zealand writers before a wider public, including Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace. Jill Harris (née Restall) (1939 – 2014) wrote the engrossing book ‘The Red Suitcase’, which reinforces the importance of perseverance, the triumph of good over evil and accepting people for who they are — the embodiment of ‘By Love Serve’. She also penned ‘Sil’, which won the Honour Award for Junior Fiction in the 2006 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

Cybella, Julie, Kirsten, Caroline, Rose and Renee appeared at the St Cuthbert’s Old Girl Authors Literary Event on Thursday 3 June, 2021, in the Joan Holland Auditorium — proceeds to the Old Girls’ Association Scholarship Fund. We also recognised the contribution Ann Gluckman has made to the New Zealand literary scene. Generously sponsored by

Host your special occasion in our Old Girls’ Chapel The Chapel is an ideal venue for weddings and christenings, seating up to 200 people, yet providing an intimate enough space to host smaller groups too. The Chapel’s stunning features include beautiful stained glass windows and high ceilings with wooden beams, which create a beautiful ambiance for your special occasion. The Chapel is also blessed with an amazing sound system and a new organ. Outside, the idyllic garden surrounding the Chapel is the perfect backdrop for beautiful photos following the ceremony. If you are interested in booking the Old Girls’ Chapel for your special occasion, please contact our School Chaplain, Rev François Joubert (francois.joubert@stcuthberts.school.nz) to confirm availability. If your date is available, Miranda Gilbert, Operations Coordinator (miranda. gilbert@stcuthberts.school.nz) will complete your booking.

Orsini Ladies Luncheon - raising funds for Old Girls’ Association scholarships The Orsini Ladies Luncheon was initiated by Old Girl Sarah Hutchings, from Orsini Fine Jewellery, when she was on the Old Girls’ Association Committee. The event is hugely popular and is run every year by Sarah and the Old Girls’ Association Committee. The Old Girls’ Association Orsini Italian Luncheon is a wonderful opportunity to support the Breast Cancer Society and the Old Girls’ Association scholarship fund. These scholarships help girls receive a St Cuthbert’s education, when they would otherwise not be

able to do so. We’re exceedingly thankful for our sponsors for generously contributing to the auction component of the event: one of the highlights from our 2020 Luncheon was an outing on a 2020 Azimut Atlantis 45 boat, which was donated by the Managing Director of Pinnacle Marine, Grant Saunders. Such a beautiful boat and generous donation. Usually, if chartered, it would go for approximately $10,000 for the day including fuel and crew. Many thanks, Grant, for your support of the school.

“Thank you for such wonderful day out on the water. We had a brilliant time. The boat was fabulous, and far exceeded our expectations in every way. You made it a fantastic experience for us all. Thank you all so very much.” - Penni Glengarry. We would love mothers of current pupils, as well as Old Girls and their mothers, sisters and friends, to attend this year’s upcoming Orsini Ladies Luncheon. To be held at NSP in Parnell, Auckland. Please register with alumnae@stcuthberts.school.nz and keep an eye out for details on our Old Girls’ website: oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/events/ We look forward to seeing you there.

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Family connections We welcome the following students to our school with connections to Old Girls. Georgia Barron, Hazel Barron Caroline Barron (Barley) - Mother Lucy Berman Anita Berman (Kent-Koplowitz) - Grandmother Frankie Brdanovic Nicole Brdanovic (Pratt) - Mother Bronwyn Pratt (Wooller) - Grandmother Mavis Wooller (Taylor) - Great-Grandmother

Ophelia Guest Charmaine Guest - Mother Diane Just (Alexander) - Grandmother Averil Hunt (Harkness) - Grandmother Emma Harris Mary Harris (Postles) - Grandmother Annabelle Hegan Kirsty Hegan (Allan) - Mother Delilah Heseltine Bridget McNeill - Mother Mollie Jackson Monique Jackson (Davis) - Mother

Amelia Brewer Michelle Brewer (Bliss) - Mother Alison Bliss (Joll) - Grandmother

Emily King Joanna Croskery - Mother Helen Croskery (Lockington) - Grandmother

Scarlett Campbell Robin Denton (Glenie) - Grandmother Gwen Glenie (Gardner) - Great-Grandmother Mione Campbell (Fuller) - Great-Grandmother

Sophie Knight Anna Knight (Gould) - Mother Mary-Anne Ellett (Watt) - Grandmother

Isabella Carlisle Sarah Carlisle (Ashworth) - Mother

Lexi Klouwens Kate Klouwens (Gilbert) - Mother Lavinia McMillan (Dale) - Grandmother

Zoe Davis-Calvert Joyce Lewis - Great-Grandmother

Sienna Moloney Carly Moloney (Bryant) - Mother

Alexandra Charlesworth Miranda Charlesworth (Stirling) - Mother

Zara Neuberger Claire Neuberger (Farmer) - Mother

Sofia de Court Long Amy de Court - Mother

Isabella Payne Rochelle Ade - Mother Maia Rambisheswar Rachel Rambisheswar (Stenner) - Mother Shona Stenner (Collins) - Grandmother Joan Collins (Bridgens) - Great-Grandmother Mia Strickoff Lee-Anne Strickoff (Herring) - Mother Ellen Thompson Catherine Harbour - Mother Charlotte Thorpe Amanda Thorpe (Wickham) - Mother Bridget Liddell (Coates) - Grandmother Isabella Traynor-Kinder Jane Kinder - Mother

Family Notices

In Memorial

Births

We sadly farewell the following Old Girls

To Emma (née McWhannell, peer year 2001) and James Hancock, a son. Charles James John Henry Hancock. Born 20 May 2020. Charlie is a much-loved little brother of Thomas (3.5 years).

Jean Gott (Honorary Old Girl) Gretel Jack (1990) Stephanie Hill (1964)

Local contacts BAY OF PLENTY Contact: Dearwyn Caulfield Phone: 0274 935 037 Email: pdcaulfield@xtra.co.nz BRISBANE Contact: Trish Cotterell Email: trish07.cotterell@gmail.com CHINA (BEIJING) Contact: Jennifer Ma Email: jenniferjinma@littleoasis.cn DALLAS Contact: Clair Robinson (Menzies) Email: clairmenzies@gmail.com LONDON Contact: Kate Turner Phone: 44 78374 57882 Email: katemacsween1@gmail.com LOS ANGELES Contact: Amanda Wong Phone: 1 310 963 3302 Email: kiwi_esq@hotmail.com NEW YORK Contact: Ashleigh Hunt Email: ahunt@cgr-law.com PERTH Contact: Marg Shorter (Hartnell) Phone: 08 9388 2221 Email: margshorter@westnet.com.au SYDNEY Contact: Amy Zhang Phone: (61) 450 905 264 Email: amyzhang35@gmail.com TONGA Contact: Ana Tupou Panuve Phone: (61) 450 905 264 Email: ana.tupou@panuve.com TARANAKI Contact: Elizabeth Utting (Gray) Phone: 06 927 4909 Email: Johnandelizabeth.50@gmail.com WAIKATO Contact: Catharine Stuart (Murray) Phone: 07 827 1766 Email: bandcstuart@gmail.com Old Girls interested in becoming Local Coordinators in other cities and countries please contact: alumnae@stcuthberts.school.nz

The Black Watch Society

Our Enduring St Cuthbert’s Community When you reflect on how you can make a positive impact on others, what ways come to mind? The St Cuthbert’s community nurtures and empowers generations of girls through transformative education. One way to ensure this legacy is through remembering St Cuthbert’s in your will.

Beloved teacher Edith Whittaker did just that, her commitment to ‘By Love Serve’ continuing many years after leaving St Cuthbert’s. Edith contributed nearly 30 years of service – retiring in 1988, she played many roles in the life of the school. Coming originally from the UK, she taught Biology, was House Mistress for many years, and was also Senior Mistress under Joan Holland. She also loved many outdoor pursuits including tramping and camping and was a valuable member of the Outdoor Education team at Form 4 camps. Dedicated to teaching, Edith was known for her warm personality, sense of humour, and pastoral care of students. She was deeply respected and people spoke of her strong values and thoughtfulness for others. Sadly, Edith passed away in 2017, though her legacy continues through a planned gift. Edith had a particular interest in scholarships for Boarding. Living in the original Melrose House for twenty years, Edith played a key role in Boarding life. Beginning in 2021, the Edith Whittaker Scholarship supports one Year 9 and one Year 12 Boarding student. Old Girls who were Boarders often speak of their strong, lifelong ties to both St Cuthbert’s and to their Boarding ‘family.’ Edith, through her generous gift, is enabling students to experience the life-changing impact of Boarding at St Cuthbert’s. Maiata Forsyth (Year 9), one of the inspiring recipients, says, “Being able to have this opportunity to board at St Cuthbert’s is amazing. I’ve made many new friends and have already started to make new memories with more to come. I am so grateful to have received the Edith Whittaker Scholarship. I will always remember how lucky I am, and will continue to

do my best in everything I do.” Edith has made an impact on the whole family too. Daniel Forsyth, Maiata’s father, proud of his daughter’s accomplishments, says, “it was very difficult for us to leave Maiata and return home to Raro. What gave us solace was knowing that this was something she strived for and made her happy. We are very proud of Maiata for having the courage to step out on her own and chase her goals even if it meant moving away from us.” Year 12 recipient, Emme Kearney is also experiencing the transformative journey of Edith’s bequest. “I am so grateful to be one of the recipients of the Edith Whittaker Boarding Scholarship this year. Having just completed two years of correspondence school, I was eager to get back to a physical school and make new friends, while inevitably nervous at the thought of such a big change. My experience at St Cuthbert’s so far has been wonderful. I have been warmly welcomed into the lovely Boarding community and already feel I can call St Cuth’s my second home. As for day school, I love learning with my new teachers, and have been offered many exciting opportunities to explore. I am savouring every moment of my time at St Cuthbert’s as I know it will fly by so quickly!” Edith was a member of the St Cuthbert’s Black Watch Society, which will be relaunched later this year. As a way to thank and honour those who have indicated they will leave a planned gift in their will, the Society provides a means for members to connect with the school and one another. It is a wonderful way to meet others also invested in creating a positive legacy for St Cuthbert’s. A planned gift can be for many reasons – to say thank you to the school, to commemorate someone, or to meet a need you would like to see fulfilled. In all instances, you will transform a student’s future. For more information on leaving a gift to St Cuthbert’s, please contact Holly or Nina in Development team on: development@stcuthberts.school.nz or 9 520 4159 ex 7588 (Holly) or 09 520 4159 ex 7607 (Nina). We’d love to talk with you about your vision for your gift. You can also visit: stcuthberts.school.nz/ our-community/giving/give-your-way/ leave-a-gift-in-your-will/

ABOVE: Edith Whittaker

ABOVE: Emme Kearney

EVERGREEN TIES | JUNE 2021

Violet Wood Grant Supports Melody’s Commitment to Others Generously funded by the Old Girls’ Association, the Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant is awarded annually to a St Cuthbert’s Old Girl studying at the postgraduate level in any academic field of study.

This year’s recipient is Melody Yunjeong Kim, who attended St Cuthbert’s from 2013 to 2015. Melody holds a BSc (Hons) – First Class Honours, majoring in Psychology from the University of Auckland. Melody has a deep commitment to supporting those in need – a quality that has been present from a young age. While at St Cuthbert’s, she was a Kidsline buddy and Canteen peer supporter. This pathway flourished into a career as a Mental Health and Addictions Counsellor for National Telehealth Services. This year, Melody joins the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programme at the University of Auckland, which only offers up to eleven places annually. Melody’s goal is to become a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescent and youth mental health and trauma. Melody says, “My research aims to bridge a gap between adolescent and adult mental health through the lens of ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) scores, with particular emphasis on the impact of childhood grief and trauma in adulthood. Having this grant will allow me to conduct my research with less financial restraint and help me make an impact on a field that I am so passionate about.” Melody is excited about the programme and is immensely grateful for the generosity of the Old Girls’ Association. “It will be four intense years with funds needed to conduct my research to complete and publish my findings. This grant will allow me to fully focus on my work

without needing to worry about the financial necessities that come along with being a student. Receiving the Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant in 2021 will make a tremendous difference in my ability to give back to the community.” Melody talks movingly about what led her to the field. “Having experienced the grief of losing my beautiful mother in Year 13, my experiences have fueled my desire to make a change. I am tremendously grateful to have received the opportunity to be educated and shaped into the strong women I am today, at St Cuthbert’s, and it is heart-warming to be supported in my endeavors as an Old Girl even after graduating, and that our community supports women making a significant impact on the mental health field in Aotearoa.” St Cuthbert’s has played a special part in Melody’s life and she speaks highly of the warm care and encouragement of teachers, fellow peers, and the pastoral team. We know that ‘By Love Serve’ will continue to be a beacon in Melody’s life as she shares her patient, compassionate, and insightful qualities with young people needing guidance. *The Violet Wood Advanced Studies Grant closes each year on January 31. For more information, please visit oldgirls.stcuthberts.school.nz/violet-woodgrant/

Perth Old Girls’ Reunion On Saturday, 20 February 2021, six Old Girls met for lunch at Jo Jo’s Café, Nedlands in Perth. On a lovely sunny day, everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch overlooking the Swan River. Old Girl attendees from left to right are: Pam Murphy (née Smith), Margaret Shorter (née Hartnell), Heather Curley (née Macarthur), Blanche Rice (née Lusty), Lynnie Butler (née Macarthur) and Anne Abbott (née Hare).

2020 Graduation Ball Each December, one of the moving rites of passage for our Year 13 girls is the Graduation Ball hosted by the Old Girls’ Association. Held at the Ellerslie Event Centre, last year’s event was particularly special, due to the challenges of a pandemic year. This wonderful tradition saw our 2020 Year 13s formally become a part of the global sisterhood of the Old Girls’ Association. It was moving for all students, families, and members of the St Cuthbert’s community, whose joy was present throughout the festivities.

All aspects of breast care dealt with in a caring and professional manner by our multidisciplinary team. • In–Home Care • Post operative

• Breast Cancer Management, Surgery, Reconstruction • Breast Examination • Ultrasound • Family History Clinic • Breast Pain • Lactational Problems BREAST SURGEONS

BREAST PHYSICIANS

Mr Wayne Jones FRACS Dr Caroline Gray MBChB FASBP Mr Alexander Ng FRACS Dr Marli Gregory MBChB FASBP Mr Michael Puttick FRACS Dr Beverley Sweeten-Smith MBBS FASBP Ms Eletha Taylor FRACS Mrs Rachael Flanagan FRACS

(09) 522 1346 FAX (09) 522 1343 PHONE

info@breastassociates.co.nz www.breastassociates.co.nz Ground Floor, Ascot Central 7 Ellerslie Racecourse Drive Remuera, Auckland 1051

Protection you can count on!

• Palliative care • 24 hour care

We welcome your call or email for a free, no obligation assessment. Tel: (09) 579 1212 Mob: 027 439 0871 Email: office@katemcleanhomecare.co.nz

www.katemcleanhomecare.co.nz

Carpe secundum. The new 911 GT3. Time is precious.

MAG18573/ET

This 911 GT3 steps up everything that makes a sports car fit for the race track: with a swan neck rear wing for optimised aerodynamics and more downforce, a 4.0-litre, six-cylinder high-speed naturally aspirated engine and 375kW (510PS) for 0 to 100km/h in just 3.4 seconds. Carpe diem? This sports car squeezes the most out of every second. Discover more at continentalcarsporsche.co.nz.

Continental Cars Porsche 40 Great South Road Newmarket, Auckland Phone: +64 9 526 8991 continentalcarsporsche.co.nz

Evergreen Ties, June 2021

Articles inside

A new model for teacher training

Club Evergreen

Kahunui Year 13 Leadership experience

Parents & Friends Dance Studio

From the Desk of Justine Mahon